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This paper investigates the Public Relations Institute of Australia's introduction in 1991 of a national accreditation programme for university courses. Drawing on an analysis of previously unstudied industry archives, it identifies four themes significant for industry perspectives of education: public relations knowledge; industry expectations and experience; public relations curricula; and academic legitimacy. While university education was perceived by institute members to demonstrate the professional standing of public relations, the findings reveal divergent understandings of its role and content and identify considerable resistance to the institutionalisation of public relations knowledge. At the same time, the expansion and marketisation of higher education led to the introduction of new, vocational courses such as public relations. The significance of this study is it offers new insights into the development of Australian public relations education and the role of the professional association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Native American team identities is at the heart of a growing debate within our culture. More than 600 high schools and colleges have abandoned such identities. The controversy came to national prominence at the University of North Dakota when a wealthy donor threatened to let the North Dakota winter destroy his gift of a $100 million hockey arena if the university abandoned its Fighting Sioux identity. The public record of the university’s experience is robust and colorful. This paper views news coverage of the issue within Steven Fink’s framework of crisis stage analysis [Crisis Management: Planning for the Inevitable, iUniverse, Inc., Lincoln, NE], tracing the evolution of the issue, and supporting the assertion that attempts to reach a concluding stage are difficult when stakeholders have opposing definitions of what constitutes a successful outcome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]