College Trustees Must Step Forward in the Era of Pandemics
By John Ashford, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the Hawthorn Group, and John Graff, Partner, Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP
The Coronavirus represents in many ways an existential challenge to institutions of higher education — from community colleges to major research universities — as they consider a future that may alter their basic structure, their ability to teach in a traditional setting, and even their very sustainability. Some institutions may have to transform themselves in this time of fundamental unrest; others may be able to fall back on a reputation (and an endowment) with little change; and yet others may simply run out of financial resources to continue their mission.
With so much at stake, university trustees must take on the responsibility of helping administrators learn the lessons of the past few months and build a new sense of institutional preparedness that helps manage effectively during uncertain times, both good and bad, and that strengthens and protects a school’s most valuable asset, its reputation.
Unfortunately, the way universities often function, with competing centers of power and conflicting lines of authority, presents a unique set of hurdles in preparing for or managing large, unforeseen events (i.e., crises). Different schools or departments within universities often have distinct decision-making processes, and their constituents frequently have different needs and expectations.
A large university in the Northeast, for example, recently announced a resumption of classes in the fall, but with “scant details.” The university cautioned that plans for the undergraduate college may not be the same as for graduate schools. Not surprisingly, its business school had a very clear plan; the other schools, not so much. In other words, the university will open, but no one knows in what form.
For years, top schools have been able to rely on their exclusivity and the prospect of future individual success to weather problems with little impact on their long-term brand position or enrollment. This in contrast to the private sector, where a crisis that impacts brand — and sales or stock price — frequently results in turmoil in the executive suite. Universities, for the most part, have been able to float under the radar during times of trouble.
At least, that is, until recent times, where some well-known schools have been caught up in scandals that have received widespread and sustained media coverage and public consternation. Whether due to the changing sensibilities of student populations, the growing sophistication of activist groups, the ubiquitousness of social media channels, or a combination of the three, the environment in which we operate has changed. Recent scandals around athletics and admissions and problems in fundraising and student behavior threatened to cheapen the brands of many prominent schools and left parents and funders alike wondering whether they really want to entrust their children, or their dollars, to these institutions.
Enter the global pandemic known as COVID-19. After several months of turmoil, schools are just now beginning to emerge from the initial shock of the health crisis, yet campuses are still closed, and teaching is pretty much of the online variety. Plans are in the works for returning to some semblance of normal operation, should that be possible, with conflicting advice from federal, state, and local officials.
The next phase is deciding whether (and how) to resume classes in the fall, whether to bring back a full athletic schedule, and how to do so with social distancing. But that’s just the start; should procurement policies be reevaluated, insurance policies renegotiated, housing logistics reconsidered? What to do with all those furloughed employees? Are we ready for an onslaught of new mental health concerns? What about decreased enrollment? Does the school understand federal crisis funding programs and how to apply for them?
Boards have to step up and ask tough questions of leadership, and they need to do it now. Are there clear crisis procedures, is there a clear decision-making process, are problems identified and addressed or are they hushed up? Are we protecting or risking the school’s reputation in the process?
The answers lie in a clear-headed, objective examination of an organization’s response to and management of this pandemic; an enterprise-wide Post Incident Analysis (PIA). While the long-term impacts of the Coronavirus on our institutions is not known — and response efforts are still very much underway — now is the time to begin the process of gathering the information necessary for such a study.
As the old axiom states, “crisis doesn’t build character, it reveals it.” The same can be said of preparedness. And, now is the time to act. The arrival of COVID-19 is one of those rare events that has impacted every facet of a school’s operations; from academics to athletics, from healthcare to housing, and from security to student affairs.
Specifically, a Post-Incident Analysis for the board of trustees must address three critical areas:
· Clear objectives that guide decision-making in a crisis. In a nutshell, did we do the right thing? Did we provide a framework for response based on our institutional values? Did we take every step to protect the health and welfare of each and every student and staff member? Were we able to maintain the school’s educational mission where possible? Did our response efforts protect and enhance the school’s reputation?
· An integrated and aligned response. Did we have a designated crisis management team in advance of the outbreak that reflected every aspect of the school’s operation — academics, housing, student support, legal, alumni-relations and development, campus safety, communications? Were the decisions made by the crisis management team understood and implemented consistently across the organization? Did we ensure that every one of our constituencies had access to critical information on a real-time basis? Do we have feedback and response mechanisms in place that allowed us to identify evolving issues before they became future problems?
· Robust recovery plan. Have we begun to codify the lessons learned? Do we have a clear picture of our institution in the future (or at least an agreed process to help define it)? How will we return to the new normal, whatever that may be? Do we have an action plan to correct past mistakes to improve our future preparedness?
Trustees can’t rely on administrators caught up in day-to-day management to think broadly with nothing set-in-stone. That requires board members ready to challenge the past by asking the hard questions and giving candid feedback necessary to redefining the future.
COVID-19 was unique the first time it hit; it will not be so the next time — and the medical experts predict that it may be coming back very soon. Many will excuse the mistakes of a flawed enterprise-wide response this past spring because there was no playbook for this. Few will forgive a leadership failure to study and learn from the hard lessons offered in this wave before the next crisis hits. And there still remains the real possibility that a completely unrelated crisis will strike at any time between now and then.
It is not too late to reflect and improve. Not yet, anyway. It is just a matter of prioritizing and assembling the right minds before the wave crests again.
Bios
John Ashford
Once a country-and-western disc jockey, John Ashford is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Hawthorn Group, L.C., the international public affairs company he founded nearly 30 years ago. Ashford is graduate of Missouri Valley College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1971) and received his Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (1991). He is a frequent speaker on university matters, including at Harvard, Yale, New York, Temple, Pittsburgh, George Washington, Virginia, Alabama, Emory, Georgia, Missouri, Texas, Arizona State, Southern California and the University of Moscow. A specialist in crisis management, his public affairs clients include international industry leaders in education, higher education, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, finance and consumer products. Growing up as the son of an award-winning college football coach, Ashford lives in Alexandria, Virginia and is the father of two college students, a son at the University of Hartford and a daughter at Auburn University.
John Graff
John Graff is a partner at Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP in Boston where he provides legal and consulting services to colleges and universities in all areas of campus safety operations, including regulatory compliance, law enforcement logistics, leadership training, emergency preparedness, crisis response, and post incident review.
John previously served as a police officer at Boston University and later oversaw adjudication of student misconduct cases, including those involving Title IX allegations.
