Publicity showcases strenghts

When Tom Walsh, a Pittsburgh resident and father of a prospective Oberlin student sat down to watch the NBC nightly news in April he saw an installment in a series on the high cost of college education that focused on Oberlin. The segment impressed Walsh. "It made the College look attractive to me," he said.

Walsh may not have realized that the ideas presented in the peice, as well as the ideas behind several new admissions tools, reflect some of the recurring themes in President Nancy Dye's discourse about the College and its long-range planning process.

The NBC segment, which was filmed in late March, includes interviews with a prospective parent, a current student, Dye and Vice President for Finance Andy Evans. It opens with NBC correspondent Fred Francis saying, "Oberlin is almost perfect; rich in architecture, ideals and principles." Frances then notes Oberlin's history as the first college to admit both women and blacks.

In other parts of the three-minute piece, there are scenes of a class with Environmental Studies Profesor David Orr, students at the Conservatory and general scenes around the campus. The shots include a diverse mix of Oberlin students.

Oberlin's appearance on national and regional media is not uncommon. "Stuff like this happens all the time," Al Moran, director of the Office of Communications, said. "But lately there has been a flurry of activity."

Oberlin's name has repeatedly popped up in various segments of the national media this year. USA Today, the Jenny Jones show and Sports Illustrated have picked up on stories about Oberlin.

Additionally the College is making one of its most unique efforts to draw admitted students to Oberlin. All admitted students received a video about the history of African-Americans at Oberlin as well as a "box of goodies," as Director of Conservatory Admissions Michael Mandaren called it.

The admissions box included a free t-shirt, phone card and coupon for Ben and Jerry's ice cream, as well as literature from the Multicultural Resource Center, the deans and president and campus events calendars. The video, Follow the Morning Star, is a new version of an older video chronicling the history of black students at Oberlin. It includes new moving footage and interviews with recent grads, who praise the community awareness and activism at Oberlin.

With its positive showings in the national media and polished admissions tools, Oberlin seems to be trying to focus its publicity and image on key areas. These key areas connect to some recurring themes in Dye's discourse and the long-range planning process which she initiated.

Evans, who appeared in the NBC segment, recognized that the piece could have easily hurt Oberlin. After all it was part of a series about the high cost of college educations.

"I think we were extraordinarily lucky," Evans said. "They could have easily done us in a way that would have been negative." In another part of the series, NBC aired a much harsher piece on the value and cost of an education at Smith College.

Evans credited to success of the piece to the openness of Oberlin to NBC, and the College's willingness to work with the press. Both Dye and Moran said this openness is key to Oberlin's relationship with the media in general. "At some colleges the communication's strategy is how to avoid press rather than dealing with it openly and positively," Dye said.

The Office of Communication's motto, "open, honest and aggressive," fits with these ideas. Moran said he encourages his staff to always respond to reporters and be helpful.

Moran also said the current publicity Oberlin has created or received is stemming in part from Dye's leadership. "I think President Dye's outlook has given us an infusion of energy," he said. "We have not been afraid to take some chances. It's nice to have someone who supports your ideas."

Dye has recently emphasized that the College needs to continue improving its self-esteem. She said that when she arrived to Oberlin she was struck by how pessimistically the College thought about itself.

In a recent letter sent to all faculty about the long-range planning process Dye wrote, "Oberlin's difficulties throughout its recent history have not resulted from thinking too big. They have come from thinking too small."

In the course of the long-range planning process planning teams have come up with some large-scale and impressive goals for the College. They have also spent time thinking about what they like about Oberlin. If the new publicity efforts of the College are any clue, it seems like the planning process may have actually led to the beginnings of the boost in esteem Dye has been looking for.

In another parallel with the planning process, many of the values emphasized in the publicity are also emphasized in the planning documents and College rhetoric. Patterns between the values Oberlin pushes in its public image, and the values being stressed by Dye and other administrators, are overlapping in important ways.

The central praises of the NBC piece were the depth of Oberlin's faculty, excellence of its education, commitment to diversity and diverse principles, as well as the College's efforts to increase financial aid.

The central and recurring ideas in the long-range planning process are efforts to improve both recruitment of a diverse student body and faculty, broaden the campus community, integrate more with the outside community, remain flexible to intellectual changes and demands and maintain a top-rate faculty.

Although these ideas are not exactly mirrored in the NBC piece, they are obviously behind the images and words. For example, in the segment which mentions Orr's status as an "environmental guru" and the planned Environmental Center, Oberlin's position on the forefront of a new and interesting academic movement is advertised.

In addition, the piece focuses on Oberlin's efforts to attract exceptional faculty to the College. Francis talks about the size of Oberlin's faculty salaries, individually and as part of the overall budget. Scenes from the segment show picturesque classes.

Both these examples are connected to ideas which are prevalent in the long-range planning goals: creating unique educational opportunities for students and keeping an exceptional and diverse faculty.

Oberlin's academic uniqueness was also the idea behind an article in USA Today last week. The article, about the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) Art Rental program spoke of the program as a unique way to help non-arts students appreciate and learn about art. Kimberly Fixx, assistant registrar of AMAM, said this kind of publicity helps the College because it reaches both "alumni and future alumni."

The ideas behind the Admissions packet and video are more clear, since the College directly controlled those projects. An obvious effort to recruit minority students to Oberlin is central to the campaign, as well as promoting Oberlin's individual approach to students.

The packet is not going unnoticed, according to Moran. He said he received a letter from a high school guidance counselor complimenting the project, and that Admissions has received positive response.

Dye said she will be interested in seeing how students liked the packet. The Office of Admissions sent a survey to all accepted students which includes questions about how they liked the packet.

Dieldra Swiggett visited Oberlin this week with her son Lotharil, who is a high school senior. Swiggett said she is impressed with the way Oberlin presents itself. "I am quite impressed with the way they go about getting you acclimated," she said. "It is upscale and first-rate."

Swiggett's son was also impressed with the image he got of Oberlin through the packet and his visit. "I've toured a number of colleges and to be honest it is definitely one of the best," he said.

Of course, the overlap between themes in long-range planning and recent publicity does not carry to every bit of TV time or column inch printed about the College. In February two Oberlin students appeared on the Jenny Jones talk show as part of a show on the messiest houses in America.

Ann Grady, one of the participants in the talk show did, however, recognize the influence the publicity could have on prospective students. "It can only make incoming classes better," she said of the show.

Also in September Sports Illustrated printed a two-page story about the Oberlin football team's record-breaking losing streak. Despite the inherently embarassing publiciity stories about having the longest losing streak poses, Oberlin did not avoid the publicity.

Moran said his office keeps up with publicity of the Jenny Jones and MTV sort, and offers help to organizers of the press coverage. This attitude, of accepting both positive and negative coverage, is key to the College's outlook on publicity. But in remaining open, the College also has more opportunities to use the media to show what it wants to be shown.

Follow the video to Oberlin: Several admissions tools including this video were sent to admitted students. (video courtesy of the Office of Communications)