Student Union Calls for Ombuds at Dalhousie University

A report from the Dalhousie Student Union recommends that the Nova Scotia university establish an Ombuds office comparable to those at Canada’s other U15 institutions.  The report highlights the practices of other Canadian universities and concludes that Dalhousie's Ombuds program--which was staffed part-time by a student and which closed in 2013--was ineffective and underutilized because it lacked resources, funding, and authority.

The report was specific about a new Ombuds office:

Recommendations for a new ombudsperson office at Dalhousie include hiring, at a minimum, a full-time professional as the ombudsperson. The ombudsperson office must have sufficient resources and authority. The ombudsperson must report to the highest level possible within the university so that their reports and recommendations are taken seriously and are a source for institutional change.

The university has not responded publicly to the report.  (DSU Ombuds Report.)

Related post: Dalhousie University Ombuds Hopes to Reverse Declining Caseload; Association of Canadian College and University Ombudspersons Publishes Standards of Practice; ACCUO Chronicles Three Decades of Ombuds in Higher Education.