{"id":{"repo_id":"wfu","oai_identifier":"oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/37429"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/wfu/oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/37429","repository":{"repo_id":"wfu","name":"Wake Forest University","base_url":"https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A Values-Affirmation Model for Higher Education Crisis Communication","abstract":"In May 2010, one of the most memorable higher education crises of the decade erupted, six blocks from the campus of the University of Virginia (UVa), when fourth-year student and women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love was found dead in her off-campus apartment. Hours later, her ex-boyfriend and fellow UVa lacrosse player George Huguely V was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. This incident—the high-profile murder of one student by another—and the immense media attention and public scrutiny that it garnered, required the University of Virginia to engage in crisis communication, to respond to a chaotic situation in the hopes of restoring order and regaining legitimacy through the use of appropriate discourse. Although a university is required to craft and deliver a public response to crisis situations, its spectrum of rhetorical strategies is often much narrower than that of a corporation experiencing a comparable crisis. Therefore, the project theorizes that during a student-driven crisis, effective crisis discourse focuses on addressing the values with which the public is most concerned and speaking in a direct and meaningful way about the issues that contributed to the crisis. This shift away from image repair and toward values–affirmation is expressed in the rhetorical tradition as a change in genre, a move away from apologia toward epideixis.","abstract_html":"In May 2010, one of the most memorable higher education crises of the decade erupted, six blocks from the campus of the University of Virginia (UVa), when fourth-year student and women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love was found dead in her off-campus apartment. Hours later, her ex-boyfriend and fellow UVa lacrosse player George Huguely V was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. This incident—the high-profile murder of one student by another—and the immense media attention and public scrutiny that it garnered, required the University of Virginia to engage in crisis communication, to respond to a chaotic situation in the hopes of restoring order and regaining legitimacy through the use of appropriate discourse. Although a university is required to craft and deliver a public response to crisis situations, its spectrum of rhetorical strategies is often much narrower than that of a corporation experiencing a comparable crisis. Therefore, the project theorizes that during a student-driven crisis, effective crisis discourse focuses on addressing the values with which the public is most concerned and speaking in a direct and meaningful way about the issues that contributed to the crisis. This shift away from image repair and toward values–affirmation is expressed in the rhetorical tradition as a change in genre, a move away from <italic>apologia</italic> toward <italic>epideixis</italic>.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Smith, Mariana"],"institution":"Wake Forest University","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-27T22:01:27Z","subjects":["crisis"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37429","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Smith, Mariana"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2012-09-05T08:35:16Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2012-09-05T08:35:16Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Wake Forest University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["crisis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37429"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In May 2010, one of the most memorable higher education crises of the decade erupted, six blocks from the campus of the University of Virginia (UVa), when fourth-year student and women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love was found dead in her off-campus apartment. Hours later, her ex-boyfriend and fellow UVa lacrosse player George Huguely V was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. This incident—the high-profile murder of one student by another—and the immense media attention and public scrutiny that it garnered, required the University of Virginia to engage in crisis communication, to respond to a chaotic situation in the hopes of restoring order and regaining legitimacy through the use of appropriate discourse. Although a university is required to craft and deliver a public response to crisis situations, its spectrum of rhetorical strategies is often much narrower than that of a corporation experiencing a comparable crisis. Therefore, the project theorizes that during a student-driven crisis, effective crisis discourse focuses on addressing the values with which the public is most concerned and speaking in a direct and meaningful way about the issues that contributed to the crisis. This shift away from image repair and toward values–affirmation is expressed in the rhetorical tradition as a change in genre, a move away from apologia toward epideixis."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Values-Affirmation Model for Higher Education Crisis Communication"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Smith, Mariana"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2012-09-05T08:35:16Z"],"dc:date.available":["2012-09-05T08:35:16Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2012"],"dc:description.abstract":["In May 2010, one of the most memorable higher education crises of the decade erupted, six blocks from the campus of the University of Virginia (UVa), when fourth-year student and women's lacrosse player Yeardley Love was found dead in her off-campus apartment. Hours later, her ex-boyfriend and fellow UVa lacrosse player George Huguely V was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. This incident—the high-profile murder of one student by another—and the immense media attention and public scrutiny that it garnered, required the University of Virginia to engage in crisis communication, to respond to a chaotic situation in the hopes of restoring order and regaining legitimacy through the use of appropriate discourse. Although a university is required to craft and deliver a public response to crisis situations, its spectrum of rhetorical strategies is often much narrower than that of a corporation experiencing a comparable crisis. Therefore, the project theorizes that during a student-driven crisis, effective crisis discourse focuses on addressing the values with which the public is most concerned and speaking in a direct and meaningful way about the issues that contributed to the crisis. This shift away from image repair and toward values–affirmation is expressed in the rhetorical tradition as a change in genre, a move away from apologia toward epideixis."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10339/37429"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Wake Forest University"],"dc:subject":["crisis"],"dc:title":["A Values-Affirmation Model for Higher Education Crisis Communication"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T22:01:27Z"}