Removing Joe Paterno’s statue: A PR No-Brainer.

As if the conviction of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was not enough of a PR nightmare, the release of the Freeh report detailing Penn State officials’ involvement in the covering up of Sandusky’s crimes made things much worse. The 267-page report  released on July 12 named Penn state officials such as university president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and the beloved and revered head football coach Joe Paterno. 

Since the release of the report several groups have made attempts to distance themselves from Joe Pa. First, Nike announced they would remove Paterno’s name from their Child Development Center. Brown University, Paterno’s alma mater, decided to take Paterno’s name off their annual award recognizing the top performing freshmen student athlete. The most recent group were Penn State students who announced that they would re-name the tent village that pops up every year the night before football season tickets go on-sale “Nittanyville”, instead of its previous name, “Paternoville.”

These groups recognize the damage that associating with Paterno can cause to their image and have made the necessary steps to remove themselves from the situation. Despite all of the changes Penn State had prior, made it was clear that  Joe Paterno’s statue had to come down.

Penn State can never make what happened go away and can never repair the lives of the victims that Sandusky and those who let him run free destroyed. However, it can prove to the world that it cares about these victims, its students, and the community more than it cares about winning football games.

Much of this scandal has been a PR disaster as Penn State struggled to jump to any conclusions or make any rash and insensitive moves before finding out the truth.

After the release of the Freeh report there should not have been much discussion. The only sensible move to maintain Penn State’s fragile relationship with the public was to remove the statue. One could argue it took them too long as they initially decided to keep the statue up and a week later announced its removal 

If PR is all about building and maintaining relationships with your publics than the only logical move was to remove the statue and cut any ties the university has with Joe Paterno’s name, no matter how much fun it was to win all those games. 


This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Matt Jones

Is Penn State’s THON now a PR Tactic?

It has been quite the year for Penn State with Jerry Sandusky’s sex abuse charges and the death of Joe Paterno. From a human perspective, it has been a year full of tragedy but from a public relations stand point, it has been a year of crisis management. Everyone’s question: Can Penn State recover?

While the answer is still not entirely clear, it is more than possible for Penn State to come back better than ever. A perfect example of this: Penn State’s THON raised $10.6 million for childhood cancer research this year and exceeded its goal by $1.1 million. The entire Penn State community banded together to support a cause they believe in.

From a public relations perspective, THON can be seen as a PR tactic that helped Penn State restore its image in the higher education world. This year’s THON commercial uses very specific language that talks about the challenges of the past year. In the video, the phrase “Many things have changed” flashes across the screen while a photo montage plays in the background. By using this terminology, Penn State recognizes that the environment around the event has changed drastically in the last year. However, the next phrase to be shown was “But what’s important remains the same…our families.” This phrase conveys the message that Penn State’s mission remains the same regardless of what happened during this year. They are a unified force that will be overcome any obstacle in order to raise money for the children in need.

Despite scandals and difficulties with fundraising before the event, THON raised the most money in the history of the program. The event can be seen as a PR tactic that helped restore Penn State’s image in the mist of recent challenges. Additionally, the success of THON shows the resiliency of the Penn State community. While there are still many steps to take in order to change the perception of Penn State, THON’s success has played a key role in the process.

Do you see THON as a PR tactic for Penn State? Why or why not? Let us know!

This guest blog was written by PRowl Public Relations staff member Alex Crispino.

Susan G. Komen Bows to Controversy with Planned Parenthood

Last Tuesday, it was announced the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the United States, pulled funding from Planned Parenthood. People were outraged; many felt that it was the charity bowing under the political pressure associated with abortion that caused the retraction. A Republican congressman had questioned whether it was appropriate for public money to be put towards abortion, putting the Susan G. Komen foundation into hot water. What the organization failed to realize was that while they only donate approximately $700,000 a year to Planned Parenthood, they donated $7.5 million in research funding to the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, which is affiliated with Penn State University, the same university that is in the midst of the Jerry Sandusky molestation scandal.

Days after the news broke, the CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure released this statement:

"Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair."

While it is great news that Komen reinstated funding to Planned Parenthood, the damage is done. Instead of staying mum for most of the week, the organization should have been the first to announce their decision. A decision that was made in December. While it would cause major outrage, it wouldn't be as bad as it is now. The attention could have been focused back to where the other $92.3 million the Susan G. Komen Foundation gave out went.

While the Susan G. Komen Foundation was previously neutral in its political stance, allowing either side to donate, it is now clear which side they are on, and people will make the choice too.

A Year's Review in Crisis Communications

As 2011 quickly comes to a close, I realize I have written several blog posts this year concerning Crisis PR. To wrap-up the semester, I'd like to include a short recap of some of the more popular cases that have affected how we all see crisis communications today.

• Netflix: When they split their business, there was a lack of communication to their consumers when this split also came with increased prices. They also chose to make their announcements via blog post as opposed to coming right out and saying it.
  
• Bank of America: As if people didn't have enough issues with their banks, Bank of America customers were extremely unhappy when the bank made them pay $5 to take out their own money.
  
• Penn State: While I could write a short book about everything to do with this scandal, overall Penn State did not confirm their message to the public internally, and it didn't help that when beloved Football Head Coach, Joe Paterno was fired, students on campus rioted and decided to ignore the fact that he never called the police concerning allegations against Jerry Sandusky. While THEY ARE Penn State, it will take some time for their reputation to heal.
  
• Herman Cain: With various sexual allegations, he never clearly addressed them and would tiptoe around questions concerning the issue. The truth was never told and the story never went away, much to Cain's dismay and ultimately his chance to be a Presidential candidate.
  

Which of these Crisis PR cases did you follow? What would you do differently?

To read more about the biggest Crisis PR blunders of the year, click here.

WE ARE...in need of Crisis Management.

With the current scandal surrounding the sexual abuse allegations by Penn State's former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, it is crucial to observe how the University handled the situation from a PR standpoint. Some events stand out specifically in the beginning stages of the case that have continually failed for the University.

• Before the news of the grand jury investigation was made public, no official statement was made by Penn State until Sandusky was officially charged on November 5th with 40 accounts of sexual abuse against minors.
• As tensions began to increase surrounding the case, (former) President Graham Spanier canceled the school's weekly football press conference without informing Joe Paterno, or giving a reason behind his actions. Both this lack of communication and lack of honesty are not a good way to maintain credibility.
• Joe Paterno made a personal statement explaining his intentions to retire. Unfortunately, he should not have made any comments to the media without legal counsel first, which ultimately led to him becoming the face of the scandal.
  
• Not even a day after this statement, the Board of Trustees announced that Paterno and Spanier would be relieved of their duties, effective immediately. As if they needed more negative attention, students responded by rioting on campus, with a news van turned on it's side among other vandalism.
• Sandusky's ironically named autobiography, "Touched" is still in the bookstore, and he and athletic director, Tim Curley are still receiving state-funded pensions.

While this entire situation is not even close to winding down, a consistent, honest message needs to be enforced before they dig an even deeper hole for their once sterling image to climb out of.

What would you have done if you were representing Penn State?

To read more details about the scandal, refer to Roy Burton's article.