Crisis Communications: Controversial Speaker

Introduction

In an attempt to test the line between free speech and hate speech, the National Policy Institute (NPI), a front organization for white supremacists, picked university campuses to hold events/rallies. NPI reached out to the University of Florida to request space for their event. A week later, the Nazi group marched on the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Tiki Torches in-hand. The event left one dead. Many injured. And the nation shocked.

Challenge

As a public institution, the University of Florida was not in a position to deny a speaker because of content, though the content went against the values of the institution and many of the students, faculty, staff and alumni.

However due to what occurred in Charlottesville, we denied the request out of concern for the group’s intent of violence. We worked closely with university leadership and the governor’s office to gain their support for the denial. We predicted that the university would have a 40% chance of prevailing if NPI sued.

Two weeks later, we received a letter notifying us that NPI retained legal counsel where they expressed their desire to hold a “safe event.” They wanted us to deny the request which would have been an easy court win for them. The next day we reaffirmed our decision to deny space on September 12, but opened the door to make a “good-faith effort” to find a more agreeable date, time and location as we were legally obligated to do.

After we announced that NPI would be holding an event on campus, we received a barrage of social media threats from NPI supporters and also from people who were diametrically opposed, as well as thousands of phone calls from family members.

This event became a high stakes moment for the safety and security of students and our reputation as an institution. The challenge was to explain our legal position, show care for and solidarity with our community, and provide safety information to all our constituents including students, faculty, staff, alumni and city residents.

Product

Developing a comprehensive communication strategy with a unified voice was paramount to effectively managing the situation. Our communication team used every tool at our disposal to quell rumors, promote community and provide real-time safety information.  

Messaging

The messaging strategy was based on our values and belief system. It was very important to our audience that we used clear, strong language when mentioning NPI to disaffirm hate speech.

Consistent messages we repeated, included:

1. NPI and the speaker were not affiliated with UF

2. NPI was not invited by any UF students or groups

3. As a public institution, we are required to provide access to a public space

4. We support free speech and believe that civil debate and expression without censorship is the bedrock of our democratic society

5. UF is a place where everyone is welcome. We do not accept hate.

I took the lead on writing all communications from the university president to stakeholders. This included messages announcing the denial of NPI, the scheduling of the event, care to the campus and praise to the campus after the event.  

Communication Channels:

I aided in developing a new website, freespeech.ufl.edu. This site served as the call-to-action for all our communication efforts and served as an educational resource about the First Amendment. We listed any facility closures on the website as well. I coordinated getting that information from stakeholders campus-wide.

In the month of October, we received:

• Approx. 120,000 page views

• The average time on the site was more than six minutes.

Additionally, we leveraged social media platforms to share campus-wide emails, point people to the freespeech.ufl.edu, and showcase the president being present on campus. 

In the four-day period around the event, we had:

• Almost 2.4 million impressions on Facebook

• Reached approximately 1.4 million people.

Over the course of four days following the first announcement of the denial of NPI, UF received more than 800 emails from parents and family members expressing their concern. I developed talking points and the university response.

I lead efforts in planning and coordinating counter events to educate the student body as well as urge students not to actively protest on-site where danger would be the greatest. One event was a panel on the First Amendment which was live streamed. The moderated panel brought together faculty from various disciplines with expertise in the First Amendment.

The other event, was a two-hour unity virtual assembly called #TogetherUF. I produced and coordinated the series of conversations, interviews and performances from students around the university, to open up dialogue about race relations, cooperation, diversity, and much more. I organized a team of student leaders to help curate and cultivate content for the video, to ensure authenticity and a student voice. The virtual assembly aired at the same time as the NPI event to provide students with a counter option. Throughout the virtual assembly, students were invited to join the conversation on Facebook to add their opinions and voices. In the end, more than 1,200 people logged onto the virtual event which was four times more than the number who showed up at the live speech.

On the day of the event, we had four locations where we placed the communicators. I was stationed in the administration building in the lead communication office, where the team monitored social media and had a live feed into the NPI event. We worked in real time to correct of any misinformation and develop messages.