Issue

In March 2018, United Lutheran Seminary (ULS) faced significant fallout and campus unrest after the removal of its president due to an ongoing controversy. After the president’s removal, the seminary dealt with a lack of transparency and trust, a challenging transition, and racial divide. With one campus in rural Gettysburg and another in Philadelphia, La Torre Communications devised a strategy that effectively communicated to the uniqueness of both campus communities.

STRATEGY

La Torre Communications:

• Immersed our team in the ULS community to better understand the challenges the board of trustees and staff faced as they worked to build an all-inclusive, welcoming seminary with two diverse campuses;
• Improved the seminary’s relationships with the local media around its two campus locations (Gettysburg and Philadelphia);
• Created a process for the board and acting president to provide weekly detailed messages to the entire ULS community;
• Drafted talking points, press releases, seminary-wide communications, weekly presidential messages, and Q&As on sensitive issues to ensure the seminary communicated in a unified and consistent manner; and
• Prepared a crisis playbook for the seminary for future situations.

Result

La Torre Communications helped the seminary establish specific communications protocols and guidelines for staff, students and alumni to ensure that ULS is viewed as a welcoming and diverse learning community. It is also positioned to more effectively handle any future communications crises.