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The defining characteristic of 2020 is life interrupted. Countries around the globe are impacted by wholescale stay-at-home orders, looming economic collapse, heightened public attention to systemic racism, and associated protests. Even as global events create immense disruptions for individuals, these events also necessitate responsive actions from public and private institutions. In this Dialogue essay, we argue that the current crises emphasize the need for public organizations to sustain relationships by infusing communication efforts with empathy. Using an organizational theory approach of crisis management, we argue for the importance of focusing on governance legitimacy in times of crisis and highlight three communication strategies public organizations can use to strengthen relationships and improve crisis management performance.

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Sexual harassment was established as a form of sex discrimination in institutions of higher education (IHEs) under Title IX of the Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since then, decades of victimization surveys beginning in the 1980s show that sexual misconduct continues to be a significant problem for IHEs. Estimates suggest that as many as 25 percent of college women experience a sexual assault while in college, while as many as 34 percent experience attempted or completed unwanted kissing, sexual touching using physical force, threat of physical force, and/or verbal coercion during their college career. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors propose the Preventing and Addressing Sexual Misconduct Framework as a tool to assess and cultivate an organizational culture that is responsive to these concerning trends. Pulling from an interdisciplinary body of scholarship and the philosophy of the #MeToo movement, this tool is a starting place for the continued dialogue that is needed to more fully address sexual misconduct on college campuses.

Social equity is a pillar of public administration (PA), yet its actualization remains elusive. The path forward to closing persistent social equity gaps requires the utilization of quantitative intersectionality in PA. This article explores the literature related to quantitative intersectionality and the imperative for use in the scholarship and practices of PA. To exemplify this concept in practice, we present a case study examining Vocational Rehabilitation performance data reports. Findings illustrate how quantitative intersectionality provides an opportunity to unpack overlapping identities for people with disabilities whose individual characteristics include historically oppressed race/ethnicity and gender identities. Findings assert the imperative for using quantitative intersectionality to achieve social equity for all.