College Presidents’ Public Messaging During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analysis of Published Opinion Pieces as Crisis Communications

Abstract

During the Spring and Summer of 2020, college presidents across the United States undertook the difficult task of determining how best to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. An important aspect of leading through a crisis is messaging—that is, communicating about how the crisis is impacting one’s organization and how the needs of organizational constituents are being addressed. The purpose of this study was to analyze short opinion articles (op-eds) published by college presidents regarding higher education and the COVID-19 pandemic to understand how those publications functioned as public crisis communications. This study involved a content analysis of 40 op-eds that were authored or coauthored by college presidents between March and August 2020. Findings indicate that college presidents discussed their organizations’ implementation of public health matters, the importance of togetherness in a crisis, and how their institutions were helping the community during the public health emergency. College leaders’ desire to attain much-needed resources was also evident in many op-eds. This study illuminates how college presidents used public messaging via opinion pieces to communicate publicly during the early months of the pandemic and to attempt to secure resources for their organizations.