The average college student is probably unaware that an ombuds office exists on their campus to serve them. But ombuds can be a valuable resource to help navigate conflicts or challenges during their college years.
Ombuds provide a neutral perspective to help people explore options and identify resources to address their issues or concerns, experts say.
“A university ombuds serves in an informal, confidential, independent and impartial capacity, offering conflict resolution services to faculty, staff and students,” says Hector Escalante Meza, university ombudsperson and director of the Office of the Ombuds at the University of California, Merced.
History of Ombuds Offices
Michigan State University is widely recognized as the first major U.S. university to create an ombuds office, in 1967. Now more than 450 U.S. schools have them, says Tom Kosakowski, university ombuds for the Health Sciences Campus at theUniversity of Southern California.
Schools with ombuds offices range from the University of Florida, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University in Massachusetts to the University of Texas–Austin, Duke University in North Carolina and Princeton University in New Jersey,
While not all colleges have ombuds, experts say they are growing in presence nationwide, likely due partly to efforts at improving student retention.
Kosakowski, who runs “The Ombuds Blog,” an independent news site for the profession, says he’s seen the most growth of ombuds at community and technical colleges — and at medical schools, where they “often serve all graduate students, including professional students, Ph.D. students in biomedical sciences and trainees like medical interns and residents.”
Escalante Meza says the term “ombudsman” was the standard name historically, but it recently was changed to ombuds to be gender-neutral. However, some schools still use the term ombudsman or office of the ombudsperson.
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What an Ombuds Does
“The most distinctive feature of the ombuds role is confidentiality,” Escalante Meza says. “Visitors are offered a confidential space,”
Ombuds staff can address a wide range of student issues and concerns. They report to the highest levels of the institution but operate independently, experts say.
“A university ombuds is a conflict resolution resource. Ombuds work with either particular populations in a college or university — students, faculty or staff — or with the entire university,” says Sarah Klaper, university ombudsperson at Northwestern University in Illinois and president of the International Ombuds Association.
She says ombuds follow the association’s standards of practice, meaning they are to be confidential, impartial, informal and independent. Ombuds use the term “visitors” to describe people who come to their office seeking help.
As an impartial entity at Northwestern, the office works with everyone at the university and does not take sides, Klaper says. “We listen and lay out options for the visitor from informal to formal, both on- and off- campus.”
Ombuds are not authorized to receive formal complaints, she adds. “Telling our office is not telling the university, because we are confidential. Instead, if a visitor needs the university to know something and to take action, we can get them to the right place for that to happen.”
How an Ombuds Helps
Ombuds offices can be a safe space for students to go to discuss a specific situation and learn about options available for handling it.
“Ombuds help visitors navigate the complexities of university life, academics, work, relationships, power structures, etc.,” Klaper says. “We work with visitors to develop strategies around their situations and to provide them with the information they need so that they are empowered to effectively advocate for themselves.”
She says ombuds can also provide informal resources such as mediation and facilitated discussions, practical workshops on communication, conflict management and leadership skills.
“In addition, ombuds also serve as an early-warning system for university leadership by reporting trends and concerns to university decision-makers,” Klaper adds. “The principles of fairness and equity are central to and guide our offices.”
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When To Use Ombuds
Students may be unsure of when to visit the campus ombuds. Experts say doing so at the beginning of a conflict can be the most effective time, but it can be done at any stage.
Lisa Yamagata-Lynch, university ombudsperson and director of the Office of Ombuds Services at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville, says her office works with visitors “whether the situation they encounter is big or small.”
Yamagata-Lynch says they can also act as a mediator that helps facilitate conversations among two or three individuals. She says they help visitors by providing information and educational experiences needed to make decisions about challenging situations.
“People who come see an ombuds often feel stuck and cannot think of who to go as a university resource. So we help visitors to get unstuck. This helps visitors to gain a sense of being heard, be treated with dignity, and at times prevents them from choosing to leave the university and/or take legal action.”
When Not to Use Ombuds
While ombuds can help students find the right contacts or resources they need, that is the extent of their service. For example, they cannot make or alter policies, experts say.
“Ombuds do not act as problem-solvers or guarantee resolution. Instead, they provide a neutral perspective to help visitors explore options and identify resources to address their issues,” Escanlante Meza says.
He says ombuds may act as a conflict coach, a sounding board or a thought partner.
“Organizational ombuds do not take part in formal processes such as performance evaluation and grievance processes,” Yamagata-Lynch says.
Klaper says ombuds also “cannot be their advocate or lawyer in the process.”
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Issues Brought to Ombuds
Students can bring many types of issues to ombuds to work through conflict.
“Ombuds frequently see issues involving grade disputes and appeals, discrimination, disability accommodations, breakdowns in communication between students and faculty, concerns with housing, financial aid and scholarship concerns, student conduct and so on,” Klaper says.
Ombuds also offer a neutral ear when a student has nowhere else to turn for assistance.
“Another growing issue is the use of social media and anonymous online platforms to ‘cancel’ or otherwise shun students instead of using formal processes to investigate and deal with allegations of discrimination or other bad behavior,” Klaper says.
Resolution That Can Be Expected
Experts say ombuds do not promise resolution, since that lies with the student and their own decision-making. Therefore, Klaper says, students remain “in control of their own situation when they seek assistance from the ombuds.”
An ombuds can provide many options for students, such as maintaining the status quo or a referral to another person or office, Klaper says. Ombuds can also suggest a strategy on how to approach and talk with the opposing person or office, or help a student determine what is important for that other office to hear about for them to make a decision about their situation.
Options can include “a facilitated discussion, mediation and formal complaint processes inside and outside of the institution” and a student can choose what feels best for them, Klaper says.
Based on visitor feedback, Yamagata-Lynch says her office found that those they assisted said they “knew how to approach a difficult conversation with another person and the conversation went well.” After a mediation session, they have often found that visitors find ways to communicate better with one another and work together, Yamagata-Lynch says.
“We see disagreements and disputes with a different lens,” Klaper says. “So, ombuds are frequently seen as a last resort in particularly challenging situations because we can bring that different lens when nothing else has worked.”
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What Students Should Know About College Ombuds originally appeared on usnews.com
