Crisis communications

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Crisis communications

• Ruth Collier, Head of Press Information Office
• Susannah Wintersgill, Head of Internal
  Communications
• Public Affairs Directorate

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Agenda

• Protecting the Universitys reputation
• Managing local communications in a crisis
• Group exercise
• Questions

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PROTECTING THE Universitys reputation
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• How big is the true pool of potential black
  applicants?
• Are those with the grades applying?
• Are they getting in?

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June 2010 number crunching

• In 2007, around 23 of all white students gained
  AAA or better, and a similar proportion of BME
  students overall gained AAA. However, among black
  students, only 9.6 gained AAA.
• In numbers more than 32,000 UK white students
  got three As or better at A-level excluding
  General Studies in 2010, compared to only 795
  black students
• Source Cambridge Assessments and UCAS data

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June 2010 number crunching

• In 2010, more than 32,000 UK white students got
  three As or better at A-level excluding General
  Studies and around 29.2 of them applied to
  Oxford 795 black students got three As or better
  at A-level excluding General Studies, and more
  than 40 of them applied to Oxford.
• Source UCAS and Oxford University data

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June 2010 number crunching

• Oxfords three most competitive courses (EM,
  Medicine and Maths) account for 44 of all black
  applicants compared to just 17 of all white
  applicants
• 28.8 of all black applicants for 2009 applied
  for Medicine, compared to just 7 of all white
  applicants
• 10.4 of all black applicants for 2009 applied
  for Economics Management, compared to just 3.6
  of white applicants

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Friday 3 December 2010
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• 21 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black
  British undergraduates for the year beginning
  2009
• Merton College, Oxford, has not admitted a black
  British undergraduate for the five years leading
  to and including 2009
• One British undergraduate of black Caribbean
  ethnicity was admitted to Oxford for entry 2009

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Reputational threat what to do

• Know the truth
• Establish the media agenda
• What is the damaging headline?
• Whats the evidence for that headline?
• Is this evidence sound?
• If not, show it
• If yes, give any balance or mitigation
• If there is no balance, apologise
• Rebuttal

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Tuesday 7 December 2010
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• A spokeswoman for Oxford said Black
  students apply disproportionately for the most
  oversubscribed subjects, contributing to a lower
  than average success rate for the group as a
  whole 44 of all black applicants apply for
  Oxford's three most oversubscribed subjects,
  compared with just 17 of all white applicants.
  That means nearly half of black applicants are
  applying for the same three subjects the three
  toughest subjects to get places in. Those
  subjects are economics and management, medicine,
  and maths. This goes a very long way towards
  explaining the group's overall lower success
  rate.

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• 21 Oxbridge colleges did not take black
  students - Guardian
• The Oxbridge whitewash Guardian
• Black students failing to win Oxbridge places
  The Times
• Whitewash Twenty-one Oxbridge colleges took no
  black students last year Daily Mail
• Oxford college fails to take black students
  Daily Express
• Racist shame of our top two universities
  Daily Express

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Same day Tuesday 7 December
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7-8 December 2010

• Telling lies about Oxbridge Virtual Economics
  blog
• It advances neither the cause of improving the
  country's education system nor that of
  investigative journalism to publish David Lammy's
  data-mining exercise, in which he put forward his
  transparent anti-Oxbridge agenda by picking out a
  handful of superficially unflattering data
  points
• Dont blame Oxford The Times
• There are times when as a black student at
  Oxford you do feel a bit unusual. But Ive never
  felt any discrimination at the university...
  Oxford has a reputation for being inaccessible,
  but people dont realise how much it is doing to
  try to change that. It has the best bursary
  scheme in the country, it has made contact with
  most sixth forms and it is putting lots of money
  into widening access to pupils from less
  fortunate backgrounds.

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• Is Oxford University Racist? The Spectator
• as Oxford points out, 44 of ethnic minority
  students applied to Oxford's most over-subscribed
  courses. 28.8 of black applicants wanted to read
  medicine, for instance, and only 12 of all
  medicine applicants were successful. (By
  contrast, 41 of classics and 40 of chemistry
  applicants won places.) So it may be that the
  average black student has a lower than average
  chance of admission because of factors that have
  little to nothing to do with race, ethnicity or
  skin colour.
• Oxford and Cambridge Say Critic's Data
  Misleading Wall Street Journal
• No black academic staff at Cambridge? What about
  this guy? Fleet Street Blues blog
• Guardian claims Cambridge has no black academic
  staff. Why didn't they bother to check?
  Telegraph blog

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Thursday 9 December 2010
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Friday 10 December 2010
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Reputational threat what to do

• Know the truth
• Establish the media agenda
• What is the damaging headline?
• Whats the evidence for that headline?
• Is this evidence sound?
• If not, show it
• If yes, give any balance or mitigation
• If there is no balance, apologise
• Rebuttal

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Ongoing rebuttal

• Exclusion isn't in interests of world-class
  universities letter from Director of
  Undergraduate Admissions in the Daily Express (10
  December)
• The real crisis over black students letter
  from Director of Undergraduate Admissions in the
  Evening Standard (10 December)
• Oxfords intake letter from Director of
  Undergraduate Admissions in the Daily Mail (14
  December)
• Our education system's great shame letter
  from tutor in philosophy at Balliol in the
  Guardian (14 December)
• Corrections International Herald Tribune (15
  December)

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11 April 2011
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• I saw figures the other day that showed that
  only one black person went to Oxford last year. I
  think that is disgraceful, we have got to do
  better than that.

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• Oxford's record on black students 'disgraceful',
  says Cameron the Guardian
• Cameron brands 'all-white' Oxford a disgrace
  Daily Telegraph
• Cameron in row with Oxford over black students
  The Independent
• Oxford hits back at race claim by Cameron
  Financial Times
• Oxford University PM incorrect on black student
  intake BBC News online
• Cameron In Race Row With Oxford University
  Sky News online

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• Cameron's 'solitary black' gaffe infuriates
  Oxford The Times
• Furore over Cameron race attack on Oxford
  Daily Mail
• Cameron blunder on ethnic students Daily
  Express
• Black student gaffe Daily Mirror
• David Cameron says only one black person went to
  Oxford last year. Actually, at least 20 did.
  Didn't Oxford teach him to check his facts?
  Telegraph blog
• Cameron's 'breathtaking hypocrisy' in race row
  The Independent
• David Cameron misfires on student access The
  Guardian
• Prime Ministers inaccurate remarks on Oxford
  admissions prompt sharp reply Chronicle of
  Higher Education
• Cameron's Oxbridge too far Daily Mail
• Impaled on an Oxford spire The Independent
• Don't let the facts get in the way of a good
  story The Independent
• Dreaming spires? It's No. 10 that's out of
  touch Mail on Sunday

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managing LOCAL communications
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1. Be prepared
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Develop a crisis communications strategy

• Identify key contacts, e.g. Press Office,
  Security Services
• Identify audiences
• Identify channels
• Ensure people can access / are trained to use
  channels
• Assign and agree responsibilities
• Agree call-out and cascade process
• Agree simple sign-off process
• Identify your spokesperson do they need media
  training?
• Create checklists for key roles
• Review the plan regularly

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Develop a crisis kit

• Checklists for individual roles
• List of key contacts with phone numbers (inc out
  of hours)
• Dedicated emergency phone line / email account
• Draft Emergency page on your intranet
• Draft incident update email template
• Simple instructions for sending out
  communications
• Documents stored on shared drive and memory stick
• Log sheets for recording decisions / actions

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2. During the crisis
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Uncertainty
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Dont panic
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Your role is to...

• React quickly, but not hastily
• Act proportionately
• Prioritise
• Provide reassurance
• Provide regular and timely updates
• Correct misinformation and scotch rumours
• But avoid the temptation to respond to everything
• Contain the situation, not inflame it
• Help return things to business as usual

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Things to consider during a crisis

• Increase frequency of communications
• Increase face-to-face communications
• Have a single source of the truth key facts
  and messages
• Use a single authoritative spokesperson
• Log decisions made / communications sent out
• Evaluate how communications are being received
• Review peoples needs and revise communications
  accordingly

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Leadership communication
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This is a tough time for millions of people. But
America is tougher.
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I would like my life back.
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The role of the leader

• Provides direction and reassurance throughout the
  crisis
• Instils confidence that the situation is being
  managed well
• Is honest and transparent not afraid to say I
  dont know
• Communicates regularly and in a timely way
• Listens to peoples concerns

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3. Recovery period
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Returning to business as usual

• Acknowledge difficulties and stress
• Ensure people are thanked
• People readjust at different speeds consider
  peoples emotional as well as intellectual needs
• Review handling of the situation lessons
  learned

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In summary

• Before
• Develop a crisis communications strategy and kit
• During
• Dont panic
• Stick to your crisis plan dont respond to
  everything
• Resist tit-for-tat communications it can
  prolong and fuel the crisis
• Use strong, consistent leadership communications
• After
• Manage the transition between crisis and business
  as usual

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Group exercise