To whom it may concern at Bryant University:

Upon reading and analyzing President Ronald K. Machtley’s messages in response to the

community uproar regarding the norovirus breakout on campus, I write to advise you to make

some alterations to your emails for future reference.

My first recommendation in communicating to the faculty, staff, and students of Bryant

University would be to send out a message regarding a critical crisis or risk on campus before the

word gets spread around among students. In the case of the norovirus, I believe the first message

sent had to be written in a combative manner as gossip had been circulating about a breakout. In

a crisis-situation, it is of utmost importance to send out a short message as soon as possible with

the most accurate information.

When it comes to communication in a crisis-situation, an institution like Bryant

University must always be making the community aware of everything that is going on. If the

institution does not release an effective message quick enough, the gossip, spread by those who

do not know the whole truth, will soon become the true story and everyone will stick to that

truth.

Another important factor of delivering an effective crisis message to a community is

using terms the common public are aware of. In the first paragraph of your first message,

President Machtley brings up the condition “norovirus” for the first time. Throughout the two

messages, this diagnosis is used numerous times and is not explained until the second message.

Instead of repeatedly using the word “norovirus,” explaining that a severe flu was going around

on the Men’s lacrosse team would be more widely understood by the readers. In addition to this,
it is not until the second message that Bryant University reveals the expected culprit of the

norovirus, Wright’s Farm Restaurant.

A big pain point I saw within your message was the implementation of the sanitation

cost. The implementation of cost or money within a message can really stray the reader from the

importance of believing they can make a change and seen the relativity to their life. It is never

good to quantify the cost of anything in a corporation when there are physically suffering people.

Another recommendation I would make to this institution regarding the messages you

sent to the community would be to not try so hard to prove that there is not a continuing breakout

of the norovirus. I feel as though the messages spend a lot of time doing damage control to

protect the image of Bryant University when what the community deserves is a clear, concise

message about the facts.

Overall, your University needs to work a lot on the time frame of sending a message, the

content of the impending message, and the person who will be sending it. Also, as previously

mentioned, the message should contain material and jargon that the community is familiar with,

in order to best educate them.

You have a lot to work on, but the bones of the message are there. Remember that the

quality and quickness of the release of a crisis or risk message can mean life or death for people

on your campus.