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Anatomy of a PR fumble
Tattoo-gate
As Ohio State’s chief communication officer from 1983 to 2000, I was involved in damage control for a number of athletic department public relations crises feared to stain Ohio State’s academic reputation. The first was in 1987, when Ohio State fired its winning football coach and headlines were made in sports sections around the world. One problem in 1987 was that, because any warm body could be accepted as a freshman until that very fall (called “open admissions”), Ohio State had no legitimate academic reputation to lose; just a “jock school” reputation to reinforce. And so it was.
But not so today. In the classrooms and in the laboratories, where university reputations are really made, in the last quarter century Ohio State has made amazing progress. In 2011, Ohio State is one of the hottest schools for young scholars in the world, with one of every two freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, nine of 10 in the top quarter and test scores the envy of most colleges and universities.
Yes, it’s a shame that Tattoo-gate ever occurred and mentions in the sports press will continue through next season [“Anatomy of a PR fumble”—April]. But as seniors make their decisions for college this month, I doubt one honors student will go somewhere else because a few ballplayers sold their rings and the coach didn’t tell.
Malcolm Baroway • COLUMBUS
CORRECTIONS
In “Ultimate outdoor spaces” in the April issue of Columbus Monthly Homes, the fireplace in the photo on page 28 should have been noted as belonging to Doug and Jennifer Sawyer, and the children shown are the Sawyer children and their friends. And in “Cottage gardens” on page 34, one of the flowers pictured is a mandevilla and not a hibiscus.
A listing in Calendar in the April issue cited an incorrect address for the Clarence Jones lecture April 20 at the McCoy Center for the Arts. It should have read 100 W. Dublin-Granville Rd. in New Albany.
