University of Virginia ? multiple missteps and self-inflicted crisis is ...

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An excellent story in today?s Washington Post by reporters Donna St. George and Jenna Johnson reveals the scope of damage caused to the reputation of the University of Virginia this year when wealthy realtor Helen E. Dragas, head of the university?s board of governors, dismissed warnings and secretly plotted to oust the university president.

University of Virginia Rector Helen Dragas. (photo by ReadTheHook.com)

The Post obtained emails through a public records request that reveal weeks of turmoil and secret planning. The emails show how Dragas unilaterally sought outside PR help, conferred with only a few board members, and drafted press releases as she secretly schemed to abruptly oust Teresa Sullivan, the university?s president. The full board was not consulted on the Dragas plan, according to emails.

Dragas believed any fall-out would last only a day or two. She told her circle of board members the university needed someone as president with ?bold vision? and that Sullivan, popular among student and faculty, moved too slowly and had to be fired. She was wrong. A firestorm of criticism erupted.

Emails also reveal that Dragas ignored counsel from the university?s head of communications, Carol Wood. Dragas opted instead to hire a succession of three PR individuals and firms, none seemingly with expertise in handling the kind of mainstream media and online social media crisis that erupted when UVA President Sullivan was told to leave.

Read the emails ? click here.

The focus on press releases, as revealed in the emails, shows how precious time was wasted on an ineffective and outdated PR tactic. In crisis situations, mainstream media often views press releases as a way of hiding behind paper. At the same time, no one was paying attention as the UVA crisis was spinning out of control in online social media.

Dragas personally paid $45,000, to hire the Communication Center in DC, a more traditional PR firm in Washington to write press releases. She also engaged Hill+Knowlton Strategies.??Dragas persuaded fellow board member, John L. Nau III, a wealthy beer distributor, to pay the $208,577 tab for Hill+Knowlton.

In one email, Jeffrey C. Walker, UVA?s foundation council chairman, emailed Carl Zeithaml, dean of the commerce school: ?They are interviewing a crisis communications firm. They were woefully unprepared communications wise.?

Zeithaml responded that he thought actions by Dragas made matters worse. He was referring to a string of Dragas press releases and news conferences.

?We found ? remarks just as opaque and unhelpful as your original press release and your subsequent press conference,? one alumnus e-mailed the board.

Unable to handle the growing crisis of reputation and trust as well as outcry from students, faculty, alumni, funders and the public, the board of governors reinstalled Teresa Sullivan to her post as president of the university.

The action by Helen Dragas has cost the University of Virginia far more in image and reputation damage than the quarter of a million dollars spent on PR firms.
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Tags: Featured

Category: Reputation management

Source: http://www.davidhenderson.com/2012/10/07/university-of-virginia-multiple-missteps-and-self-inflicted-crisis-is-costly-and-festers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=university-of-virginia-multiple-missteps-and-self-inflicted-crisis-is-costly-and-festers

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