Last fall, as my wife and I cruised the Northwest Passage, we saw a lot of totem poles. Carved by natives centuries ago, each pole, with its distinctive carvings, told the story of the family or village it represented. As a stranger approached, he could tell a lot about the community and its inhabitants by the various animals and symbols represented on each pole.

Erecting totem poles has long since gone out of fashion. But we still say a lot about our values and traditions by the things we surround ourselves with, don’t we? The architecture of our buildings, the artwork we display on our grounds. The University of Florida, for example, has its Century Tower and football stadium, more commonly referred to as the Swamp. Rollins College has its Walk of Fame, its Spanish Mediterranean architecture, and modern sculptures displayed about.

What symbols on your campus represent your values, your history, and the essence of what distinguishes your institution? What might you add that can help tell your story?

Anyone wondering how the current economy is affecting community colleges need only look at a recent survey conducted by the Campus Computing Project. Almost three-quarters of 120 college presidents and chancellors surveyed said enrollment at their schools was up at least 5 percent over last year. At the same time, 57 percent of them reported their budgets were reduced this academic year, and 61 percent said they had experienced mid-year cuts.

How are they coping with this financial conundrum? Nearly four out of 10 presidents said they’ve added online programs to help control costs, and 89 percent said they’ve added programs to meet student demand. Ninety-three percent of the colleges reported their online enrollments increased this February and March over the same period last year.

The other way colleges are coping is by replacing full-time faculty with adjuncts. Thirty percent reported laying off full-time faculty while more than half said they added part-time instructors last year.

It will be interesting 10 and 20 years from now to look back and assess what impact these changes will have on the quality of learning we are providing our students.

In the past, I’ve written about taking advantage of free viral marketing by posting videos of your institution on social networks like YouTube and DailyMotion. In this posting, I’d like to address the dark side of that equation.

Dave Carroll is a Canadian singer and songwriter who, with his brother, Don, heads up a music group called SonsOfMaxwell. A year ago, they were flying on United Airlines to Nebraska for a week-long tour. Enroute, the airlines broke Dave’s guitar. When he complained to them about the breakage, they refused to replace the instrument. To get even, Dave made a video about the experience and posted it on several social websites:

United Airlines breaks guitars

I have no idea how many people have seen the video, but it has been viewed on YouTube alone nearly 5 million times. And worse for United, the story was picked up by several news organizations. Can you imagine how much positive publicity it will take for United to overcome this figurative finger in the eye?

Lest you think that only expensively made videos can garner this kind of attention, check out a video by a young lady who calls herself NutCheese, who shares her bizarre journey on another United Airlines flight. She obviously made the video herself, using a hand held camera:

United Airlines Sucks

So why am I pointing these out? Because the world of public relations is, indeed, flat. When I started in this business more than three decades ago, it was much easier to protect one’s brand. The Internet didn’t exist and the number of channels on our television sets could be counted on one hand. That world, of course, is gone forever. Today, a disgruntled student can sully your college’s reputation in a heartbeat and for little to no cost.

What to do? First, have a detailed plan for dealing with customer complaints and make sure everyone at your institution is aware of that plan, from the president to the secretaries and maintenance staff. Remember that Dave Carroll initially approached United Airlines and tried to resolve the broken guitar issue before producing the video. Secondly, make sure that responding to negative publicity is addressed in your media relations crisis plan. We usually plan for the big disasters like fires, murders, etc. But dealing with the smaller stories is just as important. That way, you prevent them from growing into big stories.