Trusteeship - November/December 2021 - 26

SPONSORED CONTENT
The Role of the
Board in Reducing
Reputational Risk
BY SIMON BARKER
T
HE IVORY TOWER simply isn't
what it used to be. Long gone
are the days when academics,
the administration, and even the
board could simply focus on intellectual,
philosophical, and esoteric pursuits happily
disconnected from the rest of the world. In
fact, colleges and universities have never
been under as much external scrutiny as
they are today, and expectations-and criticism-have
never been higher.
By their very nature, institutes of higher
education are often at the crossroads of a
variety of uniquely difficult issues, but over
the past few years we've reached a critical
juncture where both the industry as a whole
and individual institutions are smack in the
crosshairs of the public and of policymakers.
This can be attributed to three key factors:
An Institutional Trust Deficit: Trust
in virtually every formal institution of
power-government, business, religion,
and the media-is at an all-time low. Ironically,
academia is considered a relative
bright spot, but that halo of trust applies
only to individual professors and certainly
not to " the administration. "
An Industry Under Fire: Whether due to
broad questions about affordability, accessibility,
or the decline in support for the
idea of higher education as a " public good, "
these broad " industry " challenges are exacerbated
by poorly managed crises including
26 TRUSTEESHIP NOV.DEC.2021
sexual assaults, protests, natural disasters,
and data breaches, as well as a range of
self-inflicted social, financial, and ethical
issues including admissions and rankings
scandals.
The Changing Nature of Traditional
and Social Media: In an environment in
which vitriol and conspiracy theories abound
and polarized media reduces everything to
polemic, colleges and universities that need
to explain their positions and actions face an
uphill battle. When the news is more about
finding facts that support existing values or
positions, both the challenges of protecting
an institution's reputation and the importance
of doing so becomes that much greater.
Protecting Your Institution:
Understanding the Risk
Protecting your college or university rests
on a proper understanding of reputational
risk. This risk, which occurs when there is
a significant disconnect between an institution's
decisions and the expectations of its
stakeholders is highest during a crisis. However,
left unaddressed, slowly evolving and
slow-moving issues can be as corrosive over
time as any crisis and result in potential longterm
and sometimes unrecoverable damage.
Unfortunately, due to the nebulous
quality of reputation, very little attention
is given to the subject itself, to what drives
it, or to what contribution it makes to the
school's success and long-term viability. But
Trusteeship - November/December 2021

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