How to avoid a public relations debacle? Get in front of it.
Concordia University needs to learn that lesson. Eric Hiller, a member of its Board of Regents needs to be dispatched. Now. Not maybe after a meeting of the board five weeks from now.
As we report today, an online petition process is being driven by alumni of the Lutheran school in River Forest. These grads are stunned and outraged by a series of Facebook posts by Hiller reflecting profoundly disturbing views of the role of women, of Asian students, of minorities.Â
If a woman works at all, he writes, “she is going to have to, as much as possible, avoid jobs with lots of travel, jobs with excessive hours, promotions that are going to force her to work more, etc. This will be DIAMETRICALLY opposed to what society, her bosses, her crypto-feminist friends and sadly, her father, are encouraging her to do.”
This from a person on the board of a historically female-dominated college, a person with an MBA from Harvard and a consultant at McKinsey & Company.
The school is now up to two statements on this sorry situation. Responding to our reporting on the petition drive — it hit 1,700 people as of Monday — the school’s brand new president wrote on Aug. 8 that the school couldn’t speak directly on the comments or controversy engendered by a member of its board but assured the school would “continue to celebrate the good work our Lord carries out every day among the men and women of Concordia.”
They tried again on Monday with Dr. Russell P. Dawn writing, “I wish to make clear that Concordia-Chicago does not uphold ideas and statements that are derogatory to women or minorities.”
They’re getting warmer but not near to the simple and obvious need to jettison Hiller. Â