TJ Walker (host of a 2014 live-stream) discusses the University of Virginia's reputational crisis after a widely criticized Rolling Stone article alleging a gang rape at UVA was later discredited. He summarizes reactions, reads quotes from UVA rector George Keith Martin and president Teresa Sullivan defending the university and framing its climate and response, and offers an assessment of UVA's measured media strategy while warning reputation repair will take years. He closes by offering Media Training Worldwide's crisis-communications services.
Chapters
Its crisis time at the University of Virginia. Certainly been a lot of ugliness at the University of Virginia in the last couple of months, as you may recall. Huge, huge article in the Rolling Stone magazine about a massive rape there. Gang rape at a fraternity house. And now the entire story has been wildly discredited. University of Virginia took a real beating with its reputation. I mean, I saw many of my friends, professional people, colleagues around the world saying, I would never let my daughter go to that school. After the revelations of this rape, this alleged rape occurred. It turns out that it looks like Rolling Stone did not do a good job with the story. They've backed down from it. They said they no longer have faith in their sources. They've essentially retracted the story. And yet University of Virginia still has a huge, huge blemish on its reputation. Well, now they are fighting back. I want to share with you some comments made by university officials there earlier this week and late last week. Here are some comments that came in. One from the university's rector, George Keith Martin. He said, quote, our tightly knit community has experienced the full fury of drive by journalism in the 21st century of callous indifference to the truth and callous indifference to the consequences. Our great university's reputation has been unfairly tarnished. Also from the university president, Teresa Sullivan. She said, quote, our concern with sexual assault was not something that started with the Rolling Stone article. UVA's Climate and Culture are generally healthy now. So far, these seem to be reasonable countermeasures. This is going to take some years. My own alma mater, Duke University, went through something not dissimilar with the lacrosse team alleged gang rape, oh, more than 10 years ago now, and took a long time for them to get their reputation back. What's going to happen in uva? I do think that they have to be careful because anytime you're dealing with an issue like rape, it's obviously emotional. It's controversial. There are some who will say that you're being insensitive, that you're somehow minimizing horrible, disastrous behavior. You. The University of Virginia doesn't seem to be doing that. Certainly their female president doesn't seem like someone who is motivated by sweeping allegations of rape under the rug. But people do want fairness. They don't want to just be convicted of a crime without evidence. So, you know, it's hard for me to grade uva on how they've done so far. When you're in the middle of serious, serious, vicious charges in a mainstream publication like Rolling Stone, it is hard to defend yourself. Timing is an issue. They've let a little time go by. They've waited for some of the accusations to melt away, and that may have been a wise strategy. I do think they're being measured in their response. I do think that they are attacking the media, not by and they're not attacking a woman whose allegations are now looking suspicious. That's smart on their part. Uva, you're going to have a long road to hoe to restore your reputation. I think you are, at least at the moment, on the right track. What do you think? I'd love to hear from you. Post your comments right here. By the way, folks, this is the sort of thing I advise people on all the time in major organizations. Not this particular issue, but crisis situations for institutions. So if you want help formulating your messages, practicing what you're going to say for the big press conference, practicing what to say before major news interviews, give us a call at Media Training Worldwide. We're happy to come to you. Or have you come to us to do sample press conferences on video that the time to practice is before the whole world is watching. Click below in the description for information on how to reach us.
