During COVID, I advised several college presidents on how to communicate when their institutions were suddenly embroiled in an unprecedented crisis.
My advice was simple: speak directly to your community. Tell students and parents what you know. Tell them what you don’t know. Tell them what you’re doing. Explain what happens next. Be clear about what you cannot disclose and why.
I learned something early on in my higher ed career about crisis communications: when the institution is in crisis, communications cannot substitute for leadership.
Higher education has a long tradition of carefully constructed statements, legal review, and saying as little as possible until absolutely necessary. Sometimes there are good reasons for that. Privacy matters. Due process matters. There are things an institution cannot disclose.
But students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and donors need information. They also need leadership.
It’s not about presidential visibility for its own sake. It’s about accountability.
A communications office can issue statements, answer reporters, correct misinformation, and help an institution communicate clearly and responsibly. But it cannot substitute for the person ultimately accountable.
The same president who speaks for the institution at commencement, welcomes a new class, and announces a major gift needs to stand up and speak for it when the institution suddenly finds itself in an unfolding crisis.
The point isn’t to turn the president into a spokesperson.
It’s to make leadership tangible when it matters most.
