Corporate Responsibility to Race as a Lens for Higher Education Public Relations

Abstract

Universities face unique challenges when publicly (a)mending their complex histories, particularly around histories of racial exclusion and violence. We suggest that higher education institutions may use polyvocal expressions of public memory that blur epideictic and apologetic rhetorics, yet retain boundaries that serve institutional interests. We assess the case study of the memorial service for Dr. Autherine Lucy Foster at The University of Alabama in March 2022 through the lens of Corporate Responsibility to Race (CRR) drawing four implications that generate insights into the ways complex institutional voice balances risk. We seek to demonstrate how a critical public relations framework, infused with critical rhetorical approaches to public memory, holds value for a productive examination of attempts to amend hurtful pasts.

Keywords:

• public memory
• public relations
• rhetoric
• race
• critical theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).