Self Help for a Helpful University

March 1, 2013, 11:00 a.m.

See also on this topic: "Are the Iowa Universities' Stations No Longer 'Educational," April 2, 2013; "War On Sabbaticals Casualty of Iowa Public Radio; Universities Should Use Their Stations to Tell Story," December 13, 2010; "Commercializing Non-Commercial Radio; IPR's 'Enhanced Underwriting,'" November 19, 2010

A University That Wants to Be Helpful . . .

One of the things that we’ve spent some time with ... is looking at pockets where we may be less favorably viewed, and that’s where I’m going to spend a lot of time and attention. A lot of them are west.

I need to do the best job I can to deliver a message that says we are a university that wants to be helpful to the entire state.

-- University of Iowa President Sally Mason
"U of I's Mason on Other Topics," Des Moines Register, February 11, 2013

. . . Back In Its Own Backyard

Oh, you can go to the East
Go to the West
But someday you'll come
Weary at heart
Back where you started from

-- Billy Rose, lyricist, "Back in Your Own Backyard" (1928); Lyrics from eLyrics.net

As interpreted by Dean Martin:



You can probably understand why a blogger who went to the East (Washington, D.C.), went to the West (Berkeley, California), and 30 years ago came back where he started from (Iowa City), and then named his blog "FromDC2Iowa," would perhaps choose those lyrics.

But what does "back in our own backyard" have to do with the University of Iowa's problems?

Because I can imagine how Jon Stewart would describe the UI dilemma on "The Daily Show":

"You're what? You're trying to figure out how to get the University's story to the people of Iowa and their elected representatives?!" And then, mugging, raising his voice, and looking incredulous, But you OWN a statewide radio network that blankets the state with 21 frequencies, broadcasts 24/7/365, reaches 200,000 opinion leaders, and is worth tens of millions of dollars!! Why aren't you using THAT?"

(The FCC's Web site lists the licensee for WSUI-AM as THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA and for W0I-FM as IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. Bear in mind, these are licensed to be "educational radio stations," with the special privileges that status carries. [Photo credit: WSIE-FM.]

WSUI, originally 9YA, was one of the first radio stations west of the Mississippi when it began broadcasting 100 years ago this year, in 1913. Ironically, it was soon doing what I am now advocating -- using the facility to bring information about the University to the people of Iowa. WSUI was also an early innovator in the use of educational television, video broadcasting from the University's classrooms in the 1920s, if I recall correctly. "Early History of WSUI." And see, "Statewide Iowa Public Radio Service," Engage the Audience: Iowa Public Radio Annual Report, 2011, p. 11, and "About Us," Iowa Public Radio.)

In fairness, we've tried everything to get our message to Iowans except for using our own radio stations. We hired an extraordinarily well-paid Vice President for Strategic Communications. We have a Faculty Engagement Corps, a traveling busload of faculty sent out to discover that there is more to Iowa than "the People's Republic of Johnson County" -- while demonstrating for our fellow Iowans how human professors really are. We have a Web page, numerous publications and news releases.

We've even tried commercials during our football games:



An irony you may have missed in that fast moving bit of video is the fraction-of-a-second portrayal of one of Iowa's most distinguished, accomplished, and energetic professors: Dr. Jerald L. Schnoor. (Among a great many other things, Jerry holds a chair in the College of Engineering, is a professor of both Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Occupational and Environmental Health, Co-Director of the Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research, Researcher in the Center for Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing, and Editor-in-Chief of the Environmental Science and Technology Journal.)

Why the irony? For two reasons. (1) Unlike the University itself, Dr. Schnoor is using radio broadcasting to serve the people of Iowa; and (2), because the University's use of its own radio network (for university purposes) is lying fallow, he has had to use a loose network of over 200 commercial radio stations to carry his broadcasts.

I sometimes listen to the radio in the middle of the night. On one occasion, when I'd already heard the BBC's news two or three times, I started scanning the commercial stations and caught one of his one-minute "programs." When I asked him about them, he was quick to credit Iowa State Senator Joe Bolkcom for his early participation in the idea, and journalism students who help with production. But it's Professor Schnoor's voice and energy and commitment to the environment that radiate along with those broadcasts.

Now in its fourth year, recent items included "No Plastic Bag Ban for Iowa City," January 7, 2013; "Drake University Aims to Become a More Sustainable Campus," January 14, 2012; "Des Moines Gets Greener," January 21, 2013; Governor proposes plan to reduce [Iowa's impact on the Gulf of Mexico's] dead zone," January 28, 2013; "Sierra Club complaint leads to cleaner air in Iowa," February 4, 2013; and "University of Iowa Uses Local Pine Trees as Biofuel," February 11, 2013. This project's Web site, where you can find both audio and transcripts of the programs, is "On the Radio," Iowa Environmental Focus. (The home page for Iowa Environmental Focus, of which "On the Radio" is but one of many projects, is Iowa Environmental Focus: Environmental News and Analysis with an Iowa Focus, A Project of the University of Iowa Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research. The Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research has its own story well worth telling.)

But it is not the point of this blog entry to discuss environmental policy, Dr. Schnoor, the Iowa Environmental Focus activities, or the content of recent broadcasts from its "On the Radio" project. The point is that this project is proof that Iowa's state universities not only can, but in the case of Iowa Environmental Focus already are, demonstrating, with radio, what it means to be, in President Mason's words, "a university that wants to be helpful."

To "deliver a message that says we are a university that wants to be helpful," or to run 30-second commercials during football games reminding viewers that the University of Iowa is engaged in at least some additional activities elsewhere than in its hospital or on the football field -- and that, by the way, we really think we're a pretty great university -- is not going to cut it. It's not messages, or commercials, or information and brags (e.g., "About Iowa", and "Facts at a Glance"), that the University needs to win the hearts and minds of Iowans -- any more than our drone strikes are winning the hearts and minds of Pakistanis and Afghans. ("Home Grown Drones," February 16, 2013.)

As Alan Jay Lerner's lyrics to My Fair Lady's song, "Show Me," put it (albeit in a somewhat different context):

Never do I want to hear another word
There isn't one I haven't heard
. . .
Say one more and I'll scream

Sing me no song, read me no rhyme
Don't waste my time, show me

Those Missourians to the south of us are not the only ones who say, "show me."

So, let's show 'em. What do we have to show? How about starting by our reviewing one of our Web pages that is already available but seldom viewed, with its seven categories of "Resources for Iowans"? Better yet, the expanded "A-Z Resources for Iowans" list of over 140. Almost every one of those is a story to tell, along with some specifics as to how Iowans can go about benefiting from it.

I've posted on this blog my own evaluations of Iowa in general and the University of Iowa in particular from time to time; portions of them may also be of some use in explaining how we can be, and are, helpful to the rest of the state. They may also be helpful in providing those UI faculty, staff and students who come from out of state (or whom we are urging to do so) additional insight into their new home. "Taking the Bloom From My Rose; Another Perspective on Stephen Bloom's Iowa," December 16, 2011; "'We're Number One!' What's Your City's Ranking? And Why Rankings Are Silly," December 22, 2011; "What Do You See . . . When You Look at Iowa," December 27, 2011.

A few years ago I urged the University to abandon its old black-and-white "news releases" for a full-color Web page/email delivery more like what the big boys use in the 21st Century. I doubt that suggestion had any impact on anyone, but we now have a format more to my liking -- and hopefully that of other Iowans and the news media. Of course, much of the University news in "Iowa Now" is by, for and about UI faculty and students. But not all. It wouldn't require that much additional effort, staff and money to pluck the stories of relevance to all Iowans, those describing the help we're offering them and how they can get it, and put them into an additional "publication" we could send to the county weeklies all across the state.

When I was a Washington official I was a fan of Sarge Shriver, who was somehow capable of running both the Peace Corps and the War on Poverty for President Johnson. One of the very successful things he did in winning congressional support for his programs was a model I used then, and the University of Iowa could use (more than it does now) with the Iowa Legislature. The announcements of newly accepted Peace Corps volunteers came, not from his office, but from the office of the Member of Congress from whose district that volunteer came. The President, and Shriver, would of course notify ahead of time, and include, Members whose districts they would be visiting. I, or a member of my staff, would notify Members before I would be doing TV interviews, making speeches, or otherwise involved in their districts, and ask if there was anything I could do for them while I was there. (President Johnson told his presidential appointees that the most important appointment they would ever make was their congressional liaison.) Presumably, Iowa legislators would be equally appreciative of such attention, and county weeklies would (at least some of the time) be interested in running news about local residents with UI ties.

In fact, it turns out we have quite a bit of information about the University's presence in Iowa's 99 counties, available through our "Outreach" Web page. To try it out, I picked "Ida County" in northwest Iowa, because that was home for my mother's side of the family (and where a cousin and his wife still live). It's closer to Nebraska and South Dakota than Iowa City, and one of Iowa's smallest counties; with a population a little over 7,000 it ranks 92nd out of Iowa's 99 counties. And yet even Ida County is receiving services from the University of Iowa -- whether its residents are fully conscious of that fact or not.

Alumni: 80% of Iowa's dentists, 50% of doctors, 47% of pharmacists are UI educated; 80% of the 300-plus school districts have UI-educated teachers and administrators. Ida County has 62 Iowa alums, including 4 teachers/administrators, 2 doctors, 2 pharmacists, and 1 dentist. There are 19 undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Iowa from Ida County.

Health care: at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 191 Ida County residents; from the UI Outreach Specialty Clinics and UI Home Care (a visiting nursing program), 14; and the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa performed 311 tests in Ida County.

President Mason correctly notes, as quoted above, that there are "pockets where we may be less favorably viewed, and that’s where I’m going to spend a lot of time and attention. A lot of them are west."

So what do we do about that?

Let's start by putting up some repeaters (cheap radio signal transmitters) in western Iowa, sufficient to put a signal from what is now Iowa Public Radio over the 35 westernmost counties. And don't tell me we can't afford it, when we seem to have multiple multi-million-dollar construction projects underway almost continually. We're not talking about additional studios and staff here, just some relatively cheap repeaters.

There would then be no limitations to what we could program -- except for the limitations of our own imaginations. We might start with one-minute informative pieces about those 35 counties (like the information, above, from Ida County), rotated throughout the week or month. I'm not talking about eliminating NPR programming like "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered," or "Talk of the Nation" from the stations, or the Iowa-oriented news programming the talented but overworked staff is already doing. I'm just suggesting at least some one-minute bits, analogous to what Jerry Schnoor is doing, for starters. Not brags about how great the University is, or scholarship that few listeners would even understand, let alone find engaging or useful. Stories conveying information about existing UI programs and services some of their neighbors are already using, and that they might find helpful.

Ideally, what I'd like to see would be some interactive programming focused on Iowa's small towns' challenges. Bring together the expertise of the University of Iowa, Iowa State, and University of Northern Iowa with remote feeds, along with selected officials and opinion leaders from one or two towns, and broadcast the discussion over the radio. Maybe as a series; maybe as a one-off on various topics, with different experts and towns. Let the towns' people pick the topics; what would they like help with from this "helping university"? Cleaning up rivers and streams? Building tourism? Providing entrepreneurial opportunities, or jobs -- especially for the young folks now leaving town? Using streams to generate hydroelectric power? Attracting doctors, teachers and other professionals? Installing, and optimizing the healthcare, educational, and other benefits of broadband Internet access? How to make their local school boards, and administrations, more effective? The potential topics are virtually endless.

Trying to do this by involving all Iowans with conferences, travel, lodging and food expenses, would be a nightmare to organize and probably far more time consuming and expensive than anyone would find acceptable. Doing it over a pre-existing radio network is essentially incremental-cost free (aside from the time of the participants). And once the word spread, any Iowan interested in the topic could follow it with a radio in a tractor, shop, kitchen, car, while walking, or wherever else that listening -- and calling in their questions and comments -- is consistent with whatever else they're doing.

The positive impact could be multiplied further if the state's major newspapers could be encouraged to provide background material, coverage, and follow-up online and in their hard copy editions. Certainly some of the discussions could be incorporated into K-12 and undergraduate instruction.

Some say this is a lost cause. I must confess, I have been talking and writing about this for years with no indication much of anyone was even listening, let alone responding; e.g., "Public Radio's Self-Inflicted Wounds," November 11, 2008; "Commercializing Non-Commercial Radio; IPR's 'Enhanced Underwriting,'" November 19, 2010, embedding Nicholas Johnson, "The Commercialization of Non-Commercial Radio," The Prairie Progressive, December 2010, p. 2 (distributed November 17, 2010); "War On Sabbaticals Casualty of Iowa Public Radio; Universities Should Use Their Stations to Tell Story," December 13, 2010.

However, with the recent departure of Iowa Public Radio's CEO, Mary Grace Herrington, Jens Manuel Krogstad, "Iowa Public Radio CEO is Fired," Des Moines Register, February 26, 2013, this is an opportunity for the University of Iowa, and the Board of Regents, to rethink how this precious asset can be put to better use.

The point is that when a public university owns, and has access to, a statewide network of radio stations that any broadcasting company would kill to own, and it feels the need to better communicate to the people of its state, one would think radio broadcasting would be one of the first things it would turn to as at least a partial solution to its problems.

It is, after all folks, a solution that is "back in your own back yard" -- as now explained by Billie Holiday (1938):

As interpreted by Billie Holiday (1938):

You'll find your happiness lies
Right under your eyes
Back in your own backyard

# # #

Free Speech: US Army vs UIHC

February 27, 2010, 6:40 a.m. [as updated March 1, 2010]

Hierarchical Organizations and Strategic Communications
(brought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
[Note: And don't miss the comments at the bottom of this blog entry which I am quite willing to concede are, if anything, more incisive, informed, critical, amusing and well written than my blog entry itself.]

Occasionally a news day comes along with a juxtaposition of stories that together are more dramatic than the sum of the parts. Today is such a day.

Among the qualities of hierarchical, top-down organizations can be rigidity, a uniformity (sometimes literally involving uniforms), that sometimes oozes over into attempts not only at censorship of speech but thought control.

[The Supreme Court has often interpreted "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech," the First Amendment -- which is applicable to the State, and University of, Iowa and the UIHC -- to include the "right to receive" the speech of others as well as the right to distribute one's own speech. See, seven opinions cited in "Speech: First Amendment; Right to Receive Information and Ideas," Internet Law Treatise. It is in that sense that I am using the words "censorship" and "thought control." Although I am not stating as a clear conclusion that a court would find the UIHC to have violated the Constitution in this instance, First Amendment values do have a role to play here, even if ultimately rejected.]

And what has been, until today, the classic case study of a hierarchical organization, the institution that would first come to mind? That's right, the military. It's a command and control organization, one that requires its members to be focused on the job at hand, one with real national security secrets, one with an understandable desire to control its members speech and thoughts.

Well, think again. It has today relinquished this position. The U.S. military has just announced its recognition of the value of soldiers being connected to the Internet, keeping in touch with each other with Twitter and Facebook.

Here's today's first of two stories: "Twitter permission for US troops," BBC News, February 27, 2010.

The BBC is talking about our U.S. Army! Here are some excerpts from its story this morning (complete with British spelling).

US troops are to be allowed to use social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook following a review of internet use and security.

Defence department officials say the benefits of using social media now outweigh the risks to security.

The ruling means that a number of sites blocked by the Pentagon in 2007 - including YouTube - will be unblocked. . . .

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that social networking can help the Pentagon interact with US military employees, many of whom are in their early 20s and regular users of online services.

Chief of tweets

Among the military's higher ranks, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has a Twitter feed with more than 16,000 followers. . . .

"We need to take advantage of these capabilities that are out there - this Web 2.0 phenomena," said David Wennergren, deputy assistant secretary of defence for information technology. . . .

Meanwhile, taking over the distinction as the number one hierarchical organization suppressing Internet access is none other than our own UIHC.

That's right, this morning's Press-Citizen headlines on page one, "UIHC to Block Twitter, Facebook." B.A. Morelli, "UIHC to block Twitter, Facebook; Hospital says Web sites are 'inappropriate,'" Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 27, 2010, pA1. [And see, this morning's (March 1) Press-Citizen comment, Editorial, "Social Networking May Hold Some Benefits for UIHC," Iowa City Press-Citizen, March 1, 2010 ("Many people in the corporate world have recognized the advantages to be gained by participating in online social networking through Facebook and Twitter. Businesspeople can reach out to their customers sometimes more efficiently than through telephone calls and e-mails. Journalists can get tips and crowd sourcing for some of their stories. Teachers can keep in touch with students over assignments and questions. And perhaps even health care providers can contact their hard to reach patients more quickly and consistently."]

I have reproduced the full text of Ken Kates' email at the bottom of this blog entry. Meanwhile, here are some excerpts from the story:

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is blocking social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, and other Web sites in clinical workstations, according to a letter to staff Friday.

On Monday, UIHC will implement technology that blocks access . . . Ken Kates, UIHC chief executive officer, said in a hospital-wide e-mail. . . .

"[V]iewing inappropriate Web sites . . . consumes employee time and organizational resources," Kates said. . . .

Online social networking sites . . . would be blocked, Kates said.

Login screens on clinical workstations will carry a message noting that access to selected Web sites has been blocked, he said. In addition, if access to blocked sites is attempted, a message also will appear, he said.

Patient safety, fostering a positive work environment and assuring appropriate use of resources were factors in the decision, Kates said. . . .

Filtering is common in many large health care organizations and other industries, Kates said.

(And see, Diane Heldt, "UI Hospitals and Clinics to Filter Web Sites," The Gazette, February 27, 2010, p. A1.) "Filtering is common," that is, in large organizations other than the U.S. military.

Now I don't deny that the UIHC has limited legal rights to control its employees' speech, or that there may be some inappropriate computer use by some employees. How could I know? There certainly are other institutions that also take a very ham-handed approach to controlling employees' computer use. And I am in no sense suggesting that it should be OK for employees in any organization to shirk their responsibilities -- especially those who have responsibility for maintaining the highest standards of patient care -- as a result of their personal computer use "on company time."

I just find the juxtaposition of the two stories this morning striking, and worthy of comment.

And note the timing. The policy is unilaterally announced on a Friday and implemented on a Monday! ("Anne Gentile-Archer, a nurse at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and president of the hospital’s SEIU chapter, says there was no discussion between labor and management about the new policy." From Diane Heldt's Gazette story, immediately above.)

(I'll bet the Iowa City Community School District superintendent and school board members would sure like to learn how to do that. They're still patiently getting "community input" about boundary changes months after beginning the process. See, e.g., this morning's B.A. Morelli, "Feelings mixed on new scenarios; High school boundaries a concern," Iowa City Press-Citizen, February 27, 2010, p. A1.)

On a more serious note, here are my thoughts regarding what was wrong with this action:

(1) If there is no widespread endemic problem involving large numbers of UIHC employees' computer use, it might better have been dealt with by supervisors' one-on-one conferences with the offending employees.

(2) At a minimum, the procedure for the creation and implementation of such a policy should not have involved an announcement on Friday and implementation on the following Monday.

(3) There may have been a series of prior meetings between administrators, supervisors, and employees; I'm not in a position to know. But, if not, there should have been -- because it's the decent thing to do, because the policy needs employee buy-in to be effective, and because an ex cathedra announcement of this kind will not be well received.

(4) Doing it this way, with an APB email impliedly critical of employees, that was certain to leak, was bound to create the dual public relations problem that it has fomented. It is a self-inflicted black eye to tell the public the UIHC has problems of this kind; and it is predictable there will be at least some adverse reaction to both its content and the procedure used in creating and announcing it.

(5) If large numbers of employees are involved, and their behavior is seriously interfering with patient care (both of which I doubt), it raises questions as to (a) why persons so lacking in common sense and standards of professionalism were hired in the first place, and (b) once there, why their behavior was not known and dealt with by hospital administrators long ago. For example, if a part of the problem involves the online computer screen public display of pornographic images (which is not clear from the Kates email), that could well qualify as "sexual harassment" under UI policy. If there have been numerous, regular instances in which employees are so distracted or delayed in treating patients as a result of their computer usage that an unacceptably low (or negligent) level of health care and treatment results, that is obviously a much more serious matter than what they do during break time.

(6) Scenarios (1) through (5) necessarily raise questions regarding the quality and effectiveness of UIHC administration.

(7) The policy is going to be hard to rigorously enforce.

(8) The policy is of questionable validity when applied to breaks, and when different standards of conduct are to be applied to different areas of the hospital.

(9) The policy will not resolve the asserted problem. Today's technology is such that person-to-person electronic communication, and Internet access, is not limited to desktop and laptop computers. Cell phone voice calls and voice mail, texting, tweets, and smart phone Internet access can easily substitue for the use of more conventional computers.

(10) Who will decide which are to be the acceptable and unacceptable sites for employees to view, and what are the standards they will use in coming to their decisions? A year ago there were 232 million Web sites on the Internet. By now there are far more. Picking and choosing will not be an quick or easy task.

(11) Blocking sites can be a tricky and imprecise business, as many a high school principal and public librarian have discovered. Researchers have often found themselves unable to do breast cancer research on the Internet as a result of filters and blocked sites. What are the other potential downsides of this decision in the UIHC context?

"One hospital employee who did not want to be identified . . . said he doesn’t see Internet abuse as a rampant problem at the hospital. He also wondered if YouTube will be filtered. Some medical students use the site to watch videos when they’re learning about procedures, he said. 'Something like that online might actually be really valuable. . . . That’s the whole chilling effect — is this going to push out use­ful sites?'” Diane Heldt, "UI Hospitals and Clinics to Filter Web Sites," The Gazette, February 27, 2010, p. A1.

Hopefully, our medical students will be able to find some Army friends on the front lines in Afghanistan who can access YouTube for them, a place where the Army now finds the online site even useful, and certainly less harmful than UIHC administrators believe it to be when available to hospital workers in the U.S.

I can't believe the UI's new Vice President for Strategic Communications would have recommended this decision, wording of the email, or procedure. [Apparently my belief was correct; see the first comment added to this blog, below.] His is, after all, a position created, at least in part, to avoid the public relations disasters created by UIHC decisions such as asking patients for contributions to the UI Foundation before checking them into the clinics, deciding to refuse to pay patients' mounting parking fees that result from their having to wait hours beyond their appointment times, and then, befuddled by how "customer satisfaction" might be improved, deciding the remedy was for top administrators to take a few days off at Disney World in Florida.

I do wish VP Tysen Kendig well. I really do. I want him, and the university he serves, to succeed in the quest to find "strategic communications." But as this latest episode indicates, he may find he has been handed what is literally an impossible job.

One more coincidental juxtaposition. The BBC also began this morning a new subject in its "Monday Documentary" series: "The Virtual Revolution; The Great Leveling: has the internet lived up to the ideals of its founders?" Well, I guess it has in the U.S. military.

The text of the Kates email follows:

This message is sent on behalf of Ken Kates, Chief Executive Officer, UI Hospitals and Clinics, and Associate Vice President, UI Health Care.

In the interest of patient safety, fostering a positive work environment, and assuring appropriate use of resources, UI Hospitals and Clinics on Monday, March 1, will implement technology that blocks access from all clinical workstations to Web sites that are inappropriate in the health care workplace. These include online social networking sites, gaming sites, and “malicious” sites that attempt to infect computer workstations.

Such filtering of inappropriate sites—which is common in many large health care organizations and other industries—is in response to concerns voiced by patients, visitors, staff members, and supervisors. While filtering currently applies only to clinical workstations (computers on nursing units, in outpatient clinics, and other clinical/procedural areas, etc.), evaluation is under way for application in other areas of UI Hospitals and Clinics.

UI Health Care continues to support an open work environment. However, viewing inappropriate Web sites for non-work-related purposes consumes employee time and organizational resources. Moreover, access to inappropriate sites creates the potential for a negative experience for patients, visitors, employees, and students.

Login screens on clinical workstations will carry a message noting that access to selected Web sites has been blocked. In addition, if access to blocked sites is attempted, a message will also appear.

Questions or concerns should be directed to department administrators and/or managers.

_______________

* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
# # #

Strategic Communications a Failed Strategy

November 13, 2009, 6:25 a.m.

Actions Speak Louder
(brought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
There is a kind of cruel irony that a university ends up harming the very public image it seeks to improve by the way it goes about hiring yet another vice president -- the one who will bear the title and responsibility for its "strategic communications." Emily Busse, "Finalists for open VP position visit campus this week," Daily Iowan, November 9, 2009. More on this higher education equivalent of "we had to destroy the village in order to save it" in just a moment . . .

. . . but first, here are links to earlier entries that support and relate to today's discussion, along with some of the other hot topics from the past week or so that are now getting the most direct hits, among which may be the entries you are looking for:

UIHC, Regents and UI -- Budget Decisions Have Been Negative Communications:

Executives trip to Disney World: "Mickey Mouse Patient Satisfaction; UIHC's Troubles: Is Orlando the Answer?" November 8, 2009

"Contributions from patients" proposal: "UIHC: 'Sick Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?'; A Check-In and a Check," October 31, 2009, 7:00 a.m. (with numerous updates through November 4, links to additional, related material -- and now with over 30 of the Press-Citizen readers' comments on B.A. Morelli's stories)

"TARP Lessons for Iowa's Budget Cutters; Barofsky: 'Anger, cynicism and distrust [an] unnecessary cost of TARP,'" October 23, 2009

"How Many Administrators Does It Take? Administrators are Multiplying & Sucking Us Dry," July 16, 2009

"A University's Strategic Communication; A Modest Proposal to the Regents' University Presidents," October 7, 2009

"Iowa's Budget Cuts and the University; Economic Collapse Tests Moral Values," October 9, 2009.

"How to Cut Iowa's Budget; Fairness, Justice and Leadership by Example," October 15, 2009.

"UI Budget: Waivers Wave Goodbye to Savings; Consistency, Hobgoblins and Waivers," October 19, 2009

"Cutting Slack, Cutting Budgets; Regents, University Presidents, Deserve Some Thanks and Credit," October 30, 2009, 8:30 a.m. (with links to prior, related blog entries)

UI, Other -- Spence break-in grand jury proceedings: "UI Spence Break-In: Gazette Scoop Illustrates Issues," October 27, 2009

School boundaries, school boards, and the ICCSD. "Drawing School Boundaries: Clarity vs. Chaos," November 11, 2009, and "School Board Election: Now Work Begins; It's Swisher, Dorau, Cooper; Old Board 'Starting Off Backing Up' With Consultant and Tough Decisions," September 9, 2009, 7:00 a.m. (with its links to 11 prior and related blog entries including, for example, "School Boundaries Consultant Folly; Tough Boundary Questions Are for Board, Not Consultants or Superintendent, Plus: What Consultant Could Do," and "Cluster Schools: Potential for IC District?")

Nicholas Johnson, "School Board Has Work to Do," Iowa City Press-Citizen, November 2, 2009 (and reproduced in blog)

"Boundaries: Only Board Can Do Board's Job; Drawing School Boundaries Made Easy," November 2, 2009

"Huh?" asks The Gazette -- a sort of family newspaper translation of "WTF?" "[T]he UI is interviewing finalists for a newly created position as vice president of strategic communication. This despite a system-wide hiring freeze and after the UI cut 40 teaching assistant positions earlier this year. It comes as leaders discuss possible student surcharges, tuition increases and cuts in benefits to existing staff. Huh?" Editorial, "Spending that could wait," November 12, 2009, p. A4.

Even the student paper's editorial writers at The Daily Iowan can see the problems with this idea that seem to have eluded the adults who run their institution. Editorial, "Due to budgetary woes, PR position should remain unfilled," November 11, 2009 ("It’s asinine to hire a PR man or woman at the same time we’re weighing a tuition increase and surcharge. These budgetary issues require our direct and immediate attention before we address our public-relations department. President Sally Mason and other officials have spoken of the need for sacrifice, yet their hypocrisy is apparent when they’re concurrently looking to fill a public-relations position.").

If there is any profession, any group of individuals, who ought to understand the need for good public relations and media relations, it would be the reporters and editors of newspapers. Moreover, when it comes to the University of Iowa, both papers could be characterized as much more in the nature of cheerleaders than rock throwers. And so, when they are editorializing against the creation of this position -- at least now -- one can assume they are attempting to be helpful; that they really do think it is a move not in the University's best interests. I agree -- and with a similar motivation.

There are at least three issues here. One is the absolute dollars. I have no idea what the total budget for this position would be: the VP's salary, benefit package, expense account -- and then assistants, support staff, travel, office, supplies, and so forth. But I assume that it would total something in excess of $300,000, and maybe much more than that. So the money is not insignificant in a time of cutbacks.

Second, there is the priority setting. Might there be some benefit to the institution from a VP for strategic communication? Perhaps. Although it's always seemed to me that strategic communications is something that simply must come from the CEO (or in this case, university president); it's not something that can be farmed out to a consultant, or delegated to an employee. But that's not really the issue. It is not enough to say that there would be some benefit from this expensive VP position. There would be some benefit from a German Department, too, and that's been abolished. The issue is opportunity cost; the issue is relative benefit from the VP compared with the benefits that would come from other expenditures.

As the DI editorial, above, notes, "TA cuts, potential tuition hikes, and … a new public-relations hiring? . . . The position has been vacant for the last eight years, and . . . should stay that way. . . . [F]illing it would not be prudent or fiscally responsible, given the economic climate and the university’s budget reductions. In times likes these, UI officials need to prioritize."

Third, absolute dollars and a mistaken sense of priorities aside, there is the fact that this public relations move has already been another public relations disaster. Editorial writers are not the only ones criticizing the idea. Those who put utilize the newspapers' invitation to submit online comments about their stories are decidedly lacking in enthusiasm for this hire as well.

The University's public relations problems this past month have not had to do with a lack of creativity and writing ability on the part of those who prepare its news releases. It's had to do with the decisions and oversight of its administrators.

The UIHC decides it's going to stop giving patients a dollar-and-a-quarter to cover their parking expenses, and at the same time turns around and hits them up for donations to the UI Foundation on UIHC's behalf the moment they check in at a clinic. The next thing that needs to be defended is their administrators' decision to take a long weekend at Disney World. Meanwhile, it turns out they spent $60 million on a computer system that seems to have a few bugs in it (for which they announce the creation of yet one more administrator), and the Athletic Department is going ahead with a $43 million building project -- either sum alone nearly enough to cover the combined total of all the cuts required in all three Regents' universities budgets. See, e.g., a couple of the stories linked above, "Mickey Mouse Patient Satisfaction; UIHC's Troubles: Is Orlando the Answer?" November 8, 2009, and "UIHC: 'Sick Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?'; A Check-In and a Check," October 31, 2009, 7:00 a.m. (with numerous updates through November 4, links to additional, related material -- and now with over 30 of the Press-Citizen readers' comments on B.A. Morelli's stories).

The Gazette and Daily Iowan are right to editorialize about the cost of yet one more UI vice president. But that is, in some ways, the least of the problems created by one more high-priced hire in these times.

I have often returned to the theme -- as in the first eight blog entries linked from the top of today's entry -- that the best "strategic communication" from the University at this time of budget cutting and tuition raising is "fairness, justice and equity." We need to communicate that our wealthiest and most powerful are taking more than their fair share of the pain, not less; that we are not transforming their "wants" into "needs" while treating others' "needs" as "superfluous;" that we are not living on an Iowa Animal Farm in which "some are more equal than others."

In the course of doing so I've noted the lessons provided for us by "the Department of the Treasury's Special Inspector General, Neil Barofsky, [who] says the Treasury's handling of the TARP program . . . 'have contributed to damage the credibility of the program and of the government itself, and [that] the anger, cynicism and distrust created must be chalked up as one of the substantial, albeit unnecessary, costs of TARP.'" "TARP Lessons for Iowa's Budget Cutters; Barofsky: 'Anger, cynicism and distrust [an] unnecessary cost of TARP,'" October 23, 2009.

The most significant word in that quote? "Unnecessary." The public's "anger, cynicism and distrust" is not a necessary consequence from Iowa's, and the UI's, budget cutting. As the comic strip character Pogo once observed, "We have met the enemy and he is us." [Graphic credit: Wikipedia.] It is we, not the woozle, that has been making the tracks around Winnie the Pooh's barn. We who have caused those gunshot wounds in our feet. To the extent we have "strategic communications" problems at this time, it turns out that most of them are of our own making.

Damage control is a part of the responsibility of publicists. And it's important. But it's not "strategic communications."

It's our actions that are speaking louder than any words from an additional high-priced UI VP ever could.
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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source, even if I have to embed it myself. -- Nicholas Johnson
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A University's Strategic Communication

October 7, 2009, 8:45 a.m.

See also "Iowa's Budget Cuts and the University; Economic Collapse Tests Moral Values," Oct. 9

A Modest Proposal to the Regents' University Presidents
(brought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
The University of Iowa wants "strategic communication" and is searching for someone to provide it. "The Vice President for Strategic Communication reports to the President and is the chief communication officer responsible for conveying the University’s mission, vision, and values internally and externally. ""Position Description, Vice President for Strategic Communication Search," University of Iowa.

Until we find someone to fill this post, with its lengthy and intimidating Position Description list of responsibilities, I have a modest suggestion for how we -- and the other two Regents' universities -- might "convey the University's values."

These are tough economic times.

Tuition was increased 3.2% last year, 4.2% this year, and at least one Regent is advocating increasing it 5-6% next year. Out of state tuition for our professional schools is becoming less distinguishable from that of the most expensive private schools. Our so-called "public universities" are PINO universities -- public in name only. The free higher education California once offered, the nearly free in Iowa, the $25 a semester I paid elsewhere as an undergraduate, or tuition-free programs like the GI Bill after WW II have become truly ancient history. Stacy Hupp, "Tuition Increase Likely, Regent Says," Des Moines Register, September 18, 2009.

Iowa's universities' budgets have been cut, and cut again, and more cuts are coming. Brian Morelli, "Faculty worried about further budget cuts; State revenue estimate expected to lead to mid-year cut," Iowa City Press-Citizen, October 7, 2009, p. A1. "Regent President David Miles announced in a statement Thursday a hiring freeze and a construction moratorium on all projects other than UI flood recovery projects." B.A. Morelli, "UI officials shocked by cut; layoffs likely," Iowa City Press-Citizen, October 9, 2009.

A "construction moratorium," that is, except for athletic facilities? Watch this space and see. "In a timeframe now measured in weeks instead of months, Iowa director of athletics Gary Barta expects work on the $47 million renovation of Carver-Hawkeye Arena to begin this fall . . . 'and we are on schedule to make that happen,' Barta said during an appearance at the Scott County I-Club dinner on Thursday." Steve Batterson, "Carver renovations on pace to begin in fall," Quad City Times, October 3, 2009; and Tom Witosky, "Budget woes might stall U of I arena's renovation," Des Moines Register, October 11, 2009: "The regents records . . . show that [the UI] athletic department receives $882,000 from the university general fund . . .."

Successful budget cutting, always a bummer, requires the appearance as much as the reality of fairness. Layoffs, reductions in compensation, "a hiring freeze and a construction moratorium" from which the football coach's salary and the basketball team's construction program are exempt does not have the appearance of fairness -- regardless of the rationale that may be offered for the exemptions.

The Board of Regents has held the universities presidents' salaries level and failed to award any bonuses for last year's performance.

However, "the university presidents still could receive bonuses for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010. . . . If U of I President Sally Mason meets her performance goals, she would be eligible for an $80,000 bonus. ISU President Greg Geoffroy could receive a $50,000 bonus, and UNI President Ben Allen is eligible for a $25,000 bonus." Brian Morelli, "No pay raises for presidents of universities," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 18, 2009.

Some Iowa legislators questioned the symbolism, and economics, of even holding out the possibility of such bonuses in these economic times. "Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, R-Wilton, Rep. Chris Hagenow, R-Windsor Heights, and Rep. Annette Sweeney, R-Alden, released a joint statement saying bonuses [totalling $155,000] should not remain a viable option this year . . .. 'This is hardly a pot shot,' Kaufmann said. 'It is amazing to me they continue to have these conversations out loud. It’s amazing to me they talk about tuition increases and performance bonuses of tens of thousands of dollars in the same meeting.'" Brian Morelli, "Dvorsky Backs University President Bonus Plans," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 29, 2009.

All of this creates a bit of a problem. Students, who are graduating with significant debt, are understandably upset about their ever-increasing tuition. University employees are understandably concerned about layoffs, and increased work for decreased pay. Legislators, no doubt reflecting their constituents' feelings, are criticizing the Regents for making bonuses possible. And the Regents would be understandably reluctant to appear to be backing down to legislators' pressure.

The public is justifiably outraged over the bank bailouts being funded with their taxpayer money -- and their great grandchildren's increased share of the national debt -- being used to pay the guys who caused the problem million-dollar bonuses.

President David Skorton once said, when some questioned whether he was being paid enough, "When the median family income in Iowa is around $45,000 and I make over $300,000, it’s hard to argue that is not a lot of money. It’s very generous." [Quoted in "Pricey Presidents Added Cost," below.] Many Iowans share his candid assessment, and probably consider bonuses on top of what is now much more than $300,000 a year to be Iowa's equivalent, with Iowa taxpayers' money, of what's going on nationally with Wall Street executives.

So what can be done? Here's an example from what was actually a much less stressful time over a year ago.

Iowa is not the only state dealing with the consequences of our Wall-Street-created economic disaster. Connecticut confronts similar pressure. Notwithstanding those stresses, Iowa's own Mike Hogan, now the very popular president of the University of Connecticut, was awarded a $100,000 bonus for his "exemplary services."

What did he do with all that money?

With no pressure on him to do so, or public objection to a bonus payment for such a popular president, he made the personal decision to not accept it.

Former UI Provost Michael Hogan, who was denied the UI presidency in 2006, this week turned down a $100,000 bonus for exemplary service as the president of the University of Connecticut. . . .

Hogan declined the $100,000 bonus because of the state and school's struggling economic situation, and he asked that the money be given to the university's graduate program, the Associated Press reports.

Lauren Sieben, "Regent: No 2nd Thoughts," The Daily Iowan, September 26, 2008, quoted and discussed in Nicholas Johnson, "Hero Hogan; Mike Hogan Is Alive and Very, Very Well," October 1, 2008. [The third comment to this blog entry, below, comes from a "UI Emeritus" and reports that this year, "Before the board in Connecticut even discussed his evaluation (which once more was reported to be exceptional, outstanding, extraordinary), he [President Hogan] asked them not to even contemplate a raise or bonus, in light of the economy and the struggles everyone is facing."]

[Graphic credit, and see, "PresRelease" -- a combination Web page, blog, photo album and Facebook-like location that University of Connecticut President Michael J. Hogan self-describes as "my own little page where I can share items of interest, celebration, or concern with my University colleagues."]

And see Nicholas Johnson, "Pricey Presidents' Added Cost," The Daily Iowan, March 7, 2006 (includes full text of source material and related support); Nicholas Johnson, "How Many Administrators Does It Take? Administrators Are Multiplying & Sucking Us Dry," July 16, 2009.

We're not talking much money here; $155,000 will scarcely be noticed one way or the other in the multi-million-dollar cuts the University of Iowa has made, and will have to continue to make. Moreover, the presidents are not guaranteed this money anyway. The Regents left open the possibility the bonuses would not be granted next year for the same reason they were not granted this year: the economy.

So the presidents wouldn't even be giving up all that much to agree to forgo them.

But I think it would make a huge difference in appearances if they were to say, either individually or in chorus: "We don't want bonuses next year even as a possibility, regardless of how well we -- and the economy -- may do between now and then."

If Iowa values can be exhibited in Connecticut, the presidents of Iowa's universities certainly ought to be able to muster up the courage to display them here in Iowa as well.

It might help soothe the legislature. It would get the Regents out of an awkward position. It could calm the anxious and angry students -- and their parents. It might make Iowans less hostile toward what they perceive as unnecessarily generous compensation for university administrators in these times. And it would communicate to the faculty and staff a little better sense of "we're all in this together."

You want a relatively cheap strategic communications way to "convey the University's values internally and externally"?

This is my modest proposal.
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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source, even if I have to embed it myself. -- Nicholas Johnson
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