What to Do When It’s Your Crisis

Many years ago, when I was a new assistant professor at Ohio State University, a member of the marching band lost his life in a freak accident. During the following Saturday’s football game, Harold L. Enarson, the university’s president, spoke to tens of thousands of assembled Buckeye fans, expressing his profound sorrow for the young man’s death and offering condolences to his family. Soon thereafter, I read of a civil lawsuit filed against Ohio State over the incident, in which Enarson’s words were taken to be acknowledgment of the university’s culpability.

Sometime later I asked Enarson if he had ever regretted his remarks. Not at all, he told me. There are times, he said, when one has to act in a moral and humane way, despite any adverse legal implications. A university president’s words reflect the values of the university and its people, he explained, and upholding those values is more important than minimizing a legal risk or financial liability.

I thought about Enarson’s comments this week, as the tidal wave of anguish and anger swept across the nation about the horrific sexual-abuse scandal at Michigan State University. Much of the anger was directed at President Lou Anna K. Simon. I don’t know President Simon, but I know her job and can easily imagine that she’d known nothing about the situation until it erupted into the public sphere. She has a long and distinguished career, and it is inconceivable to me that she would ever have tried to gloss over the facts about egregious criminal behavior on her campus, much less condone any kind of cover-up.

That said, President Simon’s resignation now is appropriate and necessary. The integrity of her university is on the line, and the personal sacrifice of her career symbolizes her commitment to this larger cause. Few college presidents will ever have to cope with such an egregious scandal, but nearly all presidents must deal with public controversy, and there are many opportunities for missteps. Here are a few suggestions, most of them gleaned from the school of hard knocks, for college presidents who worry that they may one day find themselves on the hot seat.

• When scandal comes, consult with members of your executive team, but feel free to ignore their advice. Your general counsel will advise you about the legal implications of any action you take. Your chief financial officer will worry about the money your decision may cost the university. Other advisers will worry about the implications for alumni donations, or the reaction from the governor’s office, or how the faculty senate will react, or which trustees will be angered. Each of your advisers will be focused on how your decision will “play” in his or her bailiwick, but only you are charged with having an overview. Your decision will thus reflect two things: an amalgam of practical recommendations from your advisers and, more important, your own values and beliefs.

If, for example, you have definite ideas about safe spaces, or speech codes, or microaggressions, or sexual harassment and racial intolerance, then your college has a right to know your beliefs. That is not to say you shouldn’t be measured and diplomatic. There are usually legitimate arguments on both sides of every substantive issue, and you should treat the opposing side’s beliefs with respect.

• Don’t get drawn into debates with activist groups, which typically overstate their grievances to attract attention and gain supporters. For example, a sexual assault may provoke protests about a campus “rape culture.” Failure to run a committee recommendation past the faculty senate may lead to criticism of your “running rampant over the school’s traditions of shared governance,” or of your “authoritarian management style.” Always respond to such hyperbolic charges nondefensively and with measured words.
• Watch your language. Choose words and phrases to explain your positions to your community that are honest, sincere, and believable. Don’t let committees write your public statements, or you’ll end up with cliché-ridden phrases about “bringing the perpetrator to justice,” or “our hearts go out to the victims,” or “the jury is still out.” Such phrases are overused and reek of insincerity.
• When dealing with a campus tragedy, express sympathy to the victim’s friends and family. Save for later the discussions of due process for the accused, or being innocent until proven guilty, or not rushing to judgment.
• If you have made a mistake, admit it and apologize promptly. It’s not a capital sin to ignore a memo or forget a conversation or fail to follow up on a recommendation, even if the consequences may turn out to be dire. Your college’s lawyer may recommend that you never confess to a wrong, but that advice may win you the battle but lose you the war.
• Lay groundwork before a crisis strikes. Your community needs to have a clear idea of you as a person, what you believe in, and why you care about them and your college. If the community believes you are a thoughtful, sensitive, caring leader, with good academic and social values, then its members will be prepared to cut you some slack when you make decisions they don’t like.

In 1978, Harold Enarson had to fire Ohio State’s legendary football coach, Woody Hayes. The public accepted this painful decision, which Enarson made with sincere regret. Hayes accepted his fate with dignity, admitting responsibility for his impulsive behavior and expressing sorrow for the anguish he had caused his fans.

And Harold Enarson, who left the presidency in 1981, later told an interviewer that he wished to be remembered as “a problem solver, not a miracle man, … who dealt with issues in a straightforward, forthright fashion; who never backed off from a battle he thought was important.”

James C. Garland is a former president of Miami University, in Ohio.