<p>It is amazing to me how an act of kindness and human decency stirs up so much “controversy” and can’t possibly just be taken at face value - the folks at Bowdoin were saddened to hear of this situation and pledged to help this family in the best way they could.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And then the college sought to publicize its good deed - to what end? Helping the student shouldn’t be (and in my mind isn’t) controversial.</p>
<p>For goodness sake, it’s not like they took out a full-page ad in the NYTimes. Rest assured that for 95% of people in this country, Bowdoin and the other top LACs will remain just as obscure as they were before this incident. (My D attends one of those top LACs that could be mentioned in the same breath, so I am not making any commentary about quality, merely about obscurity.)</p>
<p>Middkid- you will grow up in time and you will, unfortunately, see and observe many more tragedies. Bowdoin is a small college. If 25 alums called the alumni relations office to ask, “What can the college do for this kid”, and 50 members of the media called the press office to ask “What can the college do for this kid” and if 100 people in the adjacent community (social workers, religious leaders, head of the “community chest” or United Way) called the Dean of Students to ask “What can the college do for this kid” and if ANOTHER 150 members of the staff and faculty called the provost to ask “What can the college do for this kid” before you know it- the college has to cease any normal activities in order to deal with the barrage of well meaning and heartfelt and quite generous folks who want to show support.</p>
<p>Hence- a statement. Not asking to be patted on the back, but a statement, putting it out there that yes, the college is doing something and thank you for your caring and concern. That puts an end to at least 80% of the phone calls, so that the staff of the college can actually get back to work.</p>
<p>I worked for a company which lost an employee in the air over Lockerbie Scotland. I live in a neighborhood which saw mom’s and dad’s go off to work the morning of 9/11 and not come back. I have friends who worked for the Wall Street Journal when Danny Pearl was kidnapped. Etc. When you are middle aged, you will undoubtedly see (I hope not be personally touched) by horrific tragedies. And you will learn that hundreds and sometimes thousands of people grab the phone to call and ask, “What are we doing to help” which is so wonderful. But no organization has the infrastructure to both deal with a tragic event AND have teams to answer the phones and be polite to all of these kind and lovely people.</p>
<p>So you put out a press release. That helps. You have a designated “War Room Protocol” which can’t anticipate every awful thing, but at least has some guidelines about who does what to whom.</p>
<p>Most of the time, the people who read or hear about what the organization is doing think “gosh that’s generous. that poor family” or whatever. Occasionally, someone who doesn’t understand (either because they are too young, like you, or they are ALWAYS looking for a cynical angle on an act of generosity in the face of something terrible) criticizes the organization for “profiteering”.</p>
<p>That’s the way it goes. Danny Pearl was decapitated, on video, and yet people criticized the Journal when their staff (colleagues and friends who had worked with him for years) were actually in mourning afterwards, instead of saying, “oh well, bad business that…” and going about their lives as if nothing had happened. </p>
<p>Come back in twenty years. You are lucky not to have seen tragedy up close. Imagine having a co-worker blown up on a business trip and having to be the person to call the family and say, “we have a copy of the passenger manifest for the airplane and are sorry to have to tell you that your Dad was, in fact on that flight”. Most organizations save their one-to-one communications for the actual injured parties… and put out a press release for everyone else.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@blossom</p>
<p>You are making several assumptions about me, and about what has happened in the past few days at Bowdoin College, that are simply not true. Your patronizing attitude is insulting. Argue the point if you like, but there’s no need to make it personal.</p>
<p>Why do you believe that Bowdoin’s actions in publicizing what it offered the student are self-serving? You don’t see a situation like the one that Blossom outlined above–tons of people (alums, students, faculty) calling and asking how to help and then press calls on top of that–all of which can take up tons of an organization’s time and energy. It’s much better to have a plan and issue a statement–tell folks what’s going on and how they can help. </p>
<p>I worked for a nonprofit that was in the spotlight many years ago and it’s amazing how many press calls come in. Having a statement and a plan is a sensible course of action. As I posted above–if Bowdoin had said we support this student, but what we’re doing is private–I’m sure the college would have come under criticism for that as well. I think Bowdoin did a very good thing for this student and I see no harm that what the college did is public knowledge. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are you asking if I can imagine that such a thing might happen? Sure, but as far as I know, it hasn’t. If you have contradictory information, please enlighten me. How about a situation where very few people, and no press, realize that a son of one of the murdered NYPD officers was a Bowdoin student until the president of the college made it known online, along with the information that the student’s college expenses would be covered until he graduated? Can you see a situation like that?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is what I suggested should have been done. What kind of criticism? Discontent from people who think that they have a right to know someone else’s private business? If the choice is between receiving criticism from people like that or making public information that should be private, I’ll take the former.</p>
<p>//pops more popcorn//</p>
<p>"Are you asking if I can imagine that such a thing might happen? Sure, but as far as I know, it hasn’t. If you have contradictory information, please enlighten me. "</p>
<p>Well, how the heck would YOU know who is or how many people are calling the Bowdoin offices? Indeed, who would know other than, well, the people who work there and field these calls? Maybe Bowdoin should say - we had x alumni and y students and z faculty asking us what we were doing to help this family. But then you’d say it was self-serving. </p>
<p>The calls day one are in the hundreds. The calls day two are potentially in the thousands. You cannot comprehend how a tragedy brings out both the best of people “how can we help” and the worst- the vultures, the tabloids, the personal injury lawyers claiming to have “boots on the ground” for an immediate lawsuit, etc. Someone prominent in my town had a relatively minor “domestic dispute”- the kind of thing where if he’d been a private citizen, would have involved one police car and a court appearance a few days later. Instead, some of their neighbors had to move to a motel for a few weeks until the trucks with the satellite feed and the folks eating donuts on the front lawn trying to get a photo went away.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine that ANY college in the US does not have a protocol of some kind in dealing with a tragedy (student suicide, meningitis outbreak, active shooter, etc. Think of Virginia Tech and how the world has changed since then) which does NOT involve a press release. That is standard operating procedure.</p>
<p>You can find my comments condescending, but your lack of understanding of how organizations deal with bad news requires some condescension. We can all protest the way the 24/7 news cycle has changed our society- and I’d be leading the charge, believe me. But the facts remain- this is how it’s done.</p>
<p>Do you know there are lawsuits stemming from the disposition of charitable donations after the murders at the elementary school in Newtown CT? People sent money, stuffed animals, etc- which the town didn’t need or want- and now donors are suing the town because they don’t approve of what happened to their “gifts”. The police couldn’t get to work in the morning- the hallways of the police department were stuffed with toys and home made angel dolls and god knows what. What did these well meaning people think- that the police were going to spend their weeks driving around town handing out stuffed animals?</p>
<p>Better to put out a press release- “we’ve taken care of things”, i.e. don’t send us your home made tchatkes. Every new tragedy learns from the previous few.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exactly my point. I don’t know, and neither do you or blossom or anyone else posting here, as far as we know. So let’s stop making assumptions.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>More assumptions about what may or may not be happening at Bowdoin. And why is your comprehension of how these things evolve better than mine, or anyone else’s, for that matter?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So what? How is this applicable to the subject of this thread? Answer: It’s not. None of this kind of stuff is happening at Bowdoin.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The college could have put out a statement that didn’t capitalize on the tragedy, but they chose not to. I even suggested upthread some words that would have been appropriate without being self-aggrandizing. I’m not saying that radio silence was the best course of action.</p>
<p>Midd- Namaste. You are clearly an expert in crisis management, strategic communications AND community relations all wrapped into one. I hope the organization you work for appreciates your nuanced approach to PR.</p>
<p>MiddKidd, I sympathize with your desire for various entities in our society to show more restraint. I really do. But you are, IMHO, over-thinking this.</p>
<p>BTW, word gets around amazingly quickly within LAC communities, both current students and alums. knew the name of the Central Park Jogger, a Wellesley alum, long before the general public did.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh, please. Where am I claiming to be any kind of “expert”? You’ve been posting as if you know all the ins and outs of a situation like this while I can’t possibly know what you know or have the experience that you have, all because I have an opinion about what kind of information Bowdoin should have released that you don’t agree with.</p>
<p>All I see from the official statement - unless I’m mistaken - on Bowdoin’s website is “At President Mills’s direction, Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster informed Justin early Sunday morning that the College will provide full financial aid to enable him to complete his Bowdoin education.”</p>
<p>To me that’s not a self-aggrandizing statement that they’re giving him full tuition because of this, but, as is their policy, they will be meeting his full need. Basically, I’m reading it as, hey, there’s no need to worry about his tuition because we meet full need for all our students - which makes sense to say since the Yankee Silver Shield Foundation had offered to pay all his costs. The statement literally says “we are grateful … but Bowdoin has it covered”. What’s the big deal?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yeah, maybe so, but when I get accused of having an “agenda” based on the thinnest of suppositions, it gets my hackles up.</p>
<p>Message from Bowdoin College President: To the Bowdoin Community,</p>
<pre><code>As many of you know, we learned Saturday that one of the New York City police officers killed that day in Brooklyn is the father of our student Justin Ramos ’17, who is now with his family.
On Sunday morning, we notified Justin that the College will provide full financial aid to enable him to complete his Bowdoin education.
Since then, we have received many inquiries from organizations and individuals — including many Bowdoin faculty, staff, students, and alumni — asking how they can make a contribution in support of the Ramos family. We are now administrating a fund for this purpose. The College will collect contributions of any amount and remit these funds directly to the Ramos family.
Visit this page to donate by credit card.
Donating by check: Checks should be made payable to Bowdoin College – Ramos Fund and mailed to the following address:
Bursar’s Office – Ramos Fund
Bowdoin College
5420 College Station
Brunswick ME 04011
To be clear, these are not gifts to the College. They are contributions for Ramos family expenses. As such, these gifts are not tax deductible.
As I wrote to the campus on Sunday morning, this is an unspeakable tragedy and our hearts go out to Justin and his entire family. We are eager to welcome Justin back to Brunswick when he is ready to return.
Sincerely,
Barry Mills
</code></pre>
<p>
</p>
<p>There was more than that.</p>
<p>You were “accused” of having an agenda because what Bowdoin did and said was basically a non-event, a nice feel-good story - that there is nothing wrong with. It was strategic communication and PR 101. If they had wanted to be self-aggrandizing or capitalize on a tragedy, they would have done a HECK of a lot more than a simply stated, entirely appropriate press release. </p>