Duke Rape Case
I have been following with growing dismay and horror the recent accusations of an exotic dancer against the Duke lacrosse team. You can read about them in the NYT or most other national papers. Just Google Duke+lacrosse+rape. They’re troubling, to say the least, as is the gruesome email sent by one of the team members within hours of the attack.
I also read the letter from the president of the university as published in the NYT. Working in PR, I was frankly amazed at the power of this letter. Either this is an ethical, honest man with extreme sensitivity to the implications of recent events, or he has one HELL of a crisis communications team behind him. The letter is perfect:
- It acknowledges the horrifying nature of the event
- condemns those actions if they are true, therefore distancing the university from them
- does not attempt to?absolve?the university of involvement/responsibility, or weasel out of anything (but admits nothing, either)
- subtly reminds readers that these kinds of problems aren’t unique to Duke
- outlines steps he is taking?to investigate and alleviate the problem(s)
- promises full cooperation with authorities and further communication with the students body and the surrounding community.
- Identifies respected (non-Duke related) experts that he has asked to investigate and give impartial recommendations about Duke’s culture. The diversity of these experts means it is probable that at least one of them will be trusted by each of his potential audiences.
It made me like the guy, and I don’t even know him.
Also, I don’t know if this is his original quote or what, but this sentence “Rape is the substitution of raw power for love, brutality for tenderness, and dehumanization for intimacy.” Totally blew me away. Because…yeah.
Now, I am an extremely optimistic confirmed cynic, and I do hope that he is the man this letter paints him to be. That way we can all learn a lesson from him. If he’s not and this letter is the skilled craftwork of a PR firm instead, we can just learn a lesson from it. This is really how to communicate. If only it was really the way the world worked, then we would be getting somewhere.
Leave a Reply
