Kcbolt's Blog

College’s Too-Fat-To-Graduate Rule Under Fire
www.cnn.com
November 30, 2009
Elizabeth Landau

Lincoln University has caused quite a controversy among its students after they have established a requirement that can keep certain students from graduating. That is, students with a body mass index of 30 or above. The University has implemented a course requirement for students with an increased body mass index that is called “Fitness for Life.” The class includes water aerobics, Tae Bo, and dancing. If students do not complete this course, they will be kept from graduating.

One of the university’s philosophy statements says “The students highest good is our paramount concern.” James Deboy, the head of the school’s Department for Health and Physical Fitness says that this course is just like any other mathematics or english proficiency requirement. He also says that they have a responsibility to be honest with their students and tell them when certain factors are going to hinder them from future achievements.

Some students at the university are outraged by this requirement and believe it’s unfair. Tiana Lawson is graduating this year and has written an editorial for the school’s newspaper to voice her opinion on the issue. She has an elevated BMI but she also has received the honor role three years in a row. She states she did not come here to be told she was unhealthy and obviously her weight hasn’t affected her intellect.

I think this is an example of bad public relations by the university. These students are giving them large amounts of money to attend their university to earn an education, not a health assessment. This type of treatment by the staff could affect whether or not prospective students consider coming in the future. I don’t believe it is a good representation to the public that they are keeping students from graduating because they have to take a fitness course because their BMI is too high. Although they are in a good place by doing so, not everyone believes it is their place.

Chicago Tribune
United Airlines works to reconnect with customers and restore battered reputation
Julie Johnson

United Airlines is doing major PR cleanup and damage control after becoming a total disappointment in the eyes of their customers and other airline travelers. After practicing bad public relations techniques and poor customer service for the past few years, United is finally trying to change their image and that’s going to start with changing their planes.

In the past ten years, United Airlines has let their image and customer service expectations slip drastically after focusing more attention on dealing with a slew of various crises that includede 9/11, SARS, and the continiously growing economic recession. United let their treatment of their customers become a past thought which isn’t a smart public relations decision. Customers are what keeps your business going and if they are unhappy, they can have a very strong effect on your business through negative word of mouth. One customer even referred to United Airlines customer service as an “oxymoron.”

The airline had to do a complete damage control of the company by establishing a plan to mend all the bridges burned. The company decided to focus on having updated aircrafts, punctual flights, courteous employees, and an airline that lead the industry in revenue. Their steps taken to repair their tarnished image and ill-treatment of travelers is an example of good public relations practices.

Jenny Sanford Endorses Candidate To Succeed Husband
The Associated Press
www.greenvilleonline.com

Everyone is familiar with the public relations scandal that is revolving around Mark Sanford and his questionable behavior over the past few months. In my opinion and I’m sure the opinions of many others, Jenny Sanford should be commended by her professional and respectful behavior about the whole situation. She could have the chance to bad-mouth her husband and undermine him after his affair, but she has chosen a different road. She has chosen a different candidate.

Jenny Sanford released a letter several weeks ago publicly endorsing Republican candidate Nikki Haley who is set to succeed her husband in 2011. Her endorsement of the candidate brings a lot of attention to the campaign because it’s not common for First Lady’s to endorse a candidate, especially one that is set to succeed her husband. Sanford is using positive PR through the letter and endorsement of Haley to gain positive publicity for her campaign.

Sanford is also using positive public relations practice by not taking this opportunity to spite her husband. She mentions in the letter that she is proud of the work her husband and his administration has done, but that is the only mention of Mark Sanford in the letter. She is behaving positively by not presenting him in a bad light as well as not presenting herself as the scorned ex-wife. She has used positive public relations practices throughout the entire situation with her husband. She choose to stand by him for part of the time but ended up moving out of the mansion and back to Sullivan’s Island. She released a statement that said she was leaving and was going to focus on being a Mom. She behaved with dignity and respect for her ending relationship with her husband and her desire to move on with her life.

I’ve talked about several things that public relations practitioners can do to maintain proper and successful internal communications within a company. Adrian Maguire discusses Do’s and Don’ts of internal communications in his blog, “Don’t PR Spin Your Workforce.” While he does focus on some positive aspects PR can bring to internal communications within this blog with examples such as using relevant channels and engaging and involving the employees, he also discusses some negative Don’ts that can occur when public relations professionals make mistakes within employee/internal communications.

One of the first Don’ts he gives is “”Don’t Keep People in the Dark.” It’s very difficult for employees to be successful within the company if they aren’t kept well-informed of the goings-on inside as well as outside. If information is not distributed within the company properly, employees are given the opportunities to create their own opinions and beliefs of what’s going on in the organization. If you are distributing information among your employees, you need to make sure it is the complete truth. Don’t spin information given to your employees because that doesn’t illustrate a feeing of trust within the company. If you trust your employees enough to allow them to represent the company, you should trust them enough to give them the honest truth about situations and issues that can affect them and the company.

Another important Don’t that he discusses is “Don’t forget feedback.” It’s sometimes easier for an employee who is not directly involved in the situation to see things from a different perspective and provide valuable insight that can be beneficial for the company. It also builds morale among the employees because they feel that they are contributing to the company and that their ideas are appreciated and taken seriously.

Employees are a vital aspect to the success of an organization. Without dedicated and professional employees, a company cannot stand on its own. An important part of the public relations practitioner’s job is making sure that the other employees are kept well-informed within the company as well as happy and treated equally. It’s important that employees are given equal opportunities to stay informed about the company as well as interact within the company on social media sites and innovative learning tools.

Public relations practitioners can have successful employee/internal communications using a variety of tools. The presentation from the Social Media Conference talks about several different tools that can be used to maintain successful internal communication within a company. Many organizations provide an intranet that has sole access for employees only. A company’s intranet can feature various training tools, product information, and marketing materials. These tools give employees the opportunity to constantly expand their knowledge of their organization.

Intranet gives employees an opportunity to expand their knowledge. There are other tools that allow them to interact with people within the company as well as publics involved outside of the company. Company’s such as Dell and Starbucks allow their employees to use social media sites to submit suggestions and ideas for the company. Other sites allow employees as well as consumers to post criticisms about the company that organizations can use to correct their mistakes and work into their crisis communications plans and reports.

The use of social media tools also allow employees to voice their opinions and spread their knowledge to the public. Various online tools such as blogs or Twitter accounts give employees a chance to have their say and represent the company in a positive way. It gives them the opportunity to feel like they are contributing something extra to the company on top of their positions.

Good PR or significant shift? Mormons throw support behind a gay-rights cause
By Eric Gorski

In an article featured in The Canadian Press, they discuss whether or not the Mormon church was practicing good PR practices by supporting city laws the prohibit the discrimination of homosexuals in housing and employment. The question of public relations tactics came up because the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints dealt with a lot of controversy over their support of Opposition 8 which banned same sex marriage in California.

The Mormon church is continuing to emphasize that their support of this law does not contradict their religious beliefs and teachings of homosexuality. They are trying to explain their support of this legislation by saying they support basic civil right. By denying gays fair housing or employment, they are taking away their rights as a human being.

The church’s support of this legislation has mixed messages among the public. Some conservative publics feel that the church is merely practicing PR to relieve some of the stress and bad reputation put on them from the Opposition 8 legislation. They feel it does not accurately represent the beliefs of the church and could lead to approval of more laws involving same-sex marriage and homosexuality in general. However, some people think it’s a good idea because it shows their dedication to the protection of civil rights regardless of sexual preference. The church released a statement explaining their position further explaining their support because it related to housing, healthcare, and employment. This helps further illustrate that this is an example of PR because the situation involved strategies that helped leave an impression on the publics related to the church.

I think Starbucks is a good example of a company who is striving to maintain corporate social responsibility. They are working to keep their employees happy, trying to have a positive impact on the environment, and working to maintain a positive relationship with society. It was recognized as a member of the top 100 ethically run companies in America.

For example, Starbucks offers great benefits to their employees that include health care, stock options, tuition reimbursement, and retirement savings account. Because of this and other aspects of the company, it has a 82% job satisfaction rate!

The company also uses some of its products to raise money for charities. A percentage of the proceeds from their sale of \"Ethos Water\" go towards helping children all over the world get clean water and raise awareness of The World Water Crisis.

Although Starbucks, like any other company, has had it’s fair share of mistakes and setbacks, they try to learn from it and create strategies to improve themselves. Starbucks also shows CSR by releasing a social responsibility report each year that “outlines and discusses the company’s behavior in relation to it’s corporate responsibility objectives.”

Starbucks is also tying to continue their goal of increased corporate social responsibility. They recently released a list of 13 goals they want to achieve by 2015. These “Shared Planet Initiatives” have been accumulated based on negative responses towards Starbucks ethical practices. They are continuing to try to improve their relationship and image with the public through CSR!

What is the role of the public relations practitioner in terms of corporate social responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility is an organization’s way of having a positive relationship with the rest of society which could include employees, stakeholders, etc. It’s the public relations practitioner’s job to make sure the organization is implementing practices in various aspects of the company that establish a positive image and effect on these people.

The practices can vary but one example is the company’s environmental impact. Adrian Maguire illustrates this by asking “Does the company follow practices that are sustainable and responsible in regard to material and energy inputs, processes, and waste avoidances?”

Another example of corporate social responsibility that the public relations practitioner could be involved in is making sure the company has a positive relationship with the community. Does the company participate in charity functions or community events? Could the company sponsor more events for local high schools or after-school programs? Not only does this practice get more advertising and word of mouth going about your company, it also helps maintain a positive relationship with the community.

A public relations practitioner could also be responsible for making sure the company implements proper aspects of recruiting new employees. They could also make sure that the company is aware of the appropriate treatment of their current employees in terms of safety, benefits, salary, etc.

Our text defines copyright as the protections of original works from unauthorized use.

Recently, the website gamedaytease.com has been told to cease distribution of merchandise with Former UCONN player, Jasper Howard on it. The website, based in Pennsylvania, had been selling t-shirts and towels with the player’s face on it. Howard was stabbed in a fight last Sunday after a student dance at the University of Connecticut. The Attorney General of Connecticut is ordering the website to stop distribution because he claims they are violating state law by not registering with the Public Charities Unit and is using a copyrighted image of Jasper Howard on their merchandise. The website, who claims all proceeds would go to the Jasper Howard Fund, were caught completely off-guard about the allegations.

In a method of good PR practice, gamedaytease.com released a statement explaining their point of view on the situation and saying they were caught off guard by this news. Apparently, the website should have registered with the Public Charities Unit and state that all proceeds would go to the specific fund in the advertisements. The Attorney General stated that there were already two on-campus stores donating proceeds to the funds and encouraged people not to go elsewhere to do so.

Recently, stories have been circulating about the upcoming trial of the mayor of Baltimore and the accusations against her of theft and embezzlement. She is accused of stealing gift cards that were worth $1500 and to be used for needy families. The Mayor is refusing to participate in any interviews about the trial or allegations against her. She will not give any in-depth details about the situation other than saying, “The truth will come out.”

Since the previous two chapters we have been discussing where on crisis communications and law in public relations, I thought this would be an appropriate topic for my first “Is this PR?” blog. I think this is an example of bad PR on the part of Mayor Sheila Dixon. I think it makes her look even more guilty that she is refusing to discuss any details of the situation at hand.

This is an example of a crisis and one of the first things you are supposed to do in a crisis is prepare some sort of response for the public as well as the media. By not doing this, Dixon makes herself look even more guilty. If she happens to be guilty, her lack of response doesn’t make her appear remorseful at all, which could lead to the loss of respect from many of her voters. Regardless of the incident, Dixon did a lot of good during her time in office and does have a great deal of support and respect from her publics.

In my opinion, her refusal to make any sort of statement about the incident or upcoming trial is an example of bad PR. She isn’t trying to change her image to the public at all by defending herself or apologizing for what she did. In the end, I think this decision could prove to be a bad one whether it’s in terms of the result of the trial or the opinions of future voters.