The University of Texas today announced that The Richards Group founder Stan Richards will remain the namesake of its advertising school. The news comes more than a year after Richards made a racist remark during a client meeting that forced him to step down from his agency.

Richards' remarks during an internal meeting that a Motel 6 ad campaign was “too Black” for the motel’s “white supremacist constituents” triggered a hemorrhaging of clients including Motel 6, Home Depot and Keurig Dr Pepper. Since then, the agency has been trying to rebuild, recently winning agency of record duties for fiber-optic provider MetroNet.

The news was announced in an internal report released today by the school’s Moody College of Communication, of which the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations is a part. 

“While we strongly denounce Richards’ remarks, we also acknowledge his remorse and his condemnation of racism and bigotry in all its forms,” wrote Jay M. Bernhardt, dean of Moody College, in the report. “When considering Richards’ offensive comments and subsequent apology on balance with his many significant contributions to the field and the College, we have decided that his name will remain on the school.

“We understand that this outcome will perpetuate feelings of pain or anger within our community," Bernhardt continued. "We will do our very best to listen to all voices, offer support, and continue making positive changes that bring us together. Our excellence and our culture are not based on names or labels but are firmly grounded in the quality of our people, community, and values.”

Bernhardt sent a letter to the school community today addressing the steps the school has taken in the wake of the Richards incident. The letter did not acknowledge that the school was retaining Richards’ name. Rather, it referred the community to the report, titled “Response and Reflections on Stan Richards’ Racial Remarks of October 2020 and a Path Forward to Strengthen our College’s Community and Culture.” 

The decision to retain Richards’ name on the school did not appear until the third page of the five-page report.

According to a school representative, Dean Bernhardt wanted the school community to “read the full report and understand the background and thinking behind the college’s response to the incident.”

The Department of Advertising & Public Relations in the Moody College of Communication was first renamed the “Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations” in 2014, following a $10 million fundraising campaign to support the school that included a significant gift from Richards.

School investigation

The Moody report noted that the school began an investigation in October 2020 by two outside consultants, following the college community’s strong reaction to Richards’ comments. 

The report said that one of those consultants was an outside journalist, a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists and opinion columnist at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, who was tasked with gathering information on Richards’ remarks, his gifts to Moody College, and his history within his company. 

The second was a consultant who regularly provides race and equity consultation and professional development, conducted voluntary and confidential listening sessions with students, faculty, staff, and alumni and prepared a report summarizing the findings from the seven listening sessions and provided his personal recommendations for addressing the concerns raised in the sessions.

“Within hours of the first news report and continuing for several weeks, many students, faculty, staff, and alumni from our community expressed anger and outrage toward Richards and his comments,” Bernhardt wrote. “Others voiced sorrow, hurt, and disappointment, particularly considering the already focused attention on racial justice issues on campus and in society in the summer and fall of 2020.”

Soon after the incident, Richard recorded a video apology to the school. "In that moment, I wiped out years of trust,” he said in the video. “I'm sorry and I ask for forgiveness."

Bernhardt noted in the report that he met with Richards in July 2021 for the first time since the 2020 incident. 

“I presented and discussed the consultants’ draft reports, described the feedback we received from our community, and shared the strong opinions that many hold related to the School bearing his name,” Bernhardt stated. “During our meeting, Richards expressed his profound regret for his remarks and remorse for the pain it has caused, and he condemned white supremacy, as he had during his prior apology. He asked for our forgiveness and expressed his commitment to helping repair the damage made by his remarks and to earn back our community's trust over time. He also maintained his strong desire for the school to continue to bear his name. After hearing his perspectives, I let Richards know that we would conduct additional conversations within our community to determine the potential for future reconciliation.”

Dean Bernhardt also outlined in the report planned actions that the school will take around improving diversity, including supporting research related to diversity in advertising and public relations, expanding representation of underrepresented groups at the school, implementing diversity-related academic programs and providing support to underrepresented students.

“To the best of our ability and within our authority, we have tried to turn this negative incident into a positive impact for our college and especially our students,” he wrote. “Richards’ remarks provided us the opportunity to carefully listen to our community, learn about their experiences and challenges, and develop new actions that will make our College better.”