This course explores the dynamics of public crisis in all; political, corporate, and private citizens becoming public. It will focus on six cases (two of which, the instructors played a central role), defining each crisis, examining media coverage, dissecting response and outcomes. At the end of the course, students will be able to critically evaluate a crisis situation and respond effectively.
About the instructors:
Amy Koch is the former Minnesota Senate Republican Majority Leader, the first woman of any party to hold the position of Leader. Under her leadership, Republicans shocked the Minnesota political establishment by winning control of the state Senate for the first time in 40 years. Since leaving elected office, Koch has been a small business owner, a political consultant and lobbyist at the Capitol. She appears regularly as a conservative political commentator on local television and radio shows, and is one o f the co-hosts of the premier podcast of Minnesota politics,
"Wrong About Everything," a fun irreverent and bipartisan look at Minnesota and national politics.
Javier Morillo-Alicea is the president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26, which unites close to 6,000 property service workers in the Twin Cities metro area. He is also recognized in Minnesota as a political strategist who has worked on multiple candidate and issue campaigns. A progressive opinion leader in Minnesota, he is a regular political commentator on public broadcasting's political talk show "Almanac" as well as ABC's local affiliate Sunday morning show, "At Issue." He is the creator and co-host of the weekly podcast "Wrong About Everything."
Course readings:
So You've Been Publicly Shamed. Jon Ronson, 2015.
Case studies:
- National Political Scandal: Anthony Weiner, U.S. Congressman, NYC Mayoral Candidate, 2011-2016
- Private Citizen Turns Public: Walter Palmer/Cecil the Lion, 2015
- #Pointergate and the People of the Internet: Tracking a crisis from multiple angles and in real time, via social media
- Creating/Utilizing a Crisis: ACORN 2009/Planned Parenthood 2015
- Corporate Scandal: Wells Fargo, 2016
- MN Political Scandal: Amy Koch, MN Senate Majority Leader, 2011
Each case study will include popular press and academic articles.