The Ombuds Blog Top Ten Stories of 2014, Nos. 4-6

This is part two of the top ten Ombuds Blog stories of 2014.  The final installment will be published on December 29.



6.  Embattled New Jersey Governor Appoints an Ombuds --  Early in the year, a legal team appointed by Governor Chris Christie named Patrick E. Hobbs, Dean of Seton Hall Law School, as the first Ombudsman for the Office of the Governor. According to the New York Times, Hobbs will be in charge of ensuring that employees receive “robust” training in ethics, and will shape a new office of the chief ethics officer for the governor and create a system for employees to report concerns about wrongdoing.


5.  University of California Embraces Ombuds Offices -- After the former California Chief Justice investigated faculty allegations of bias and discrimination UCLA, University of California President Janet Napolitano said that every campus in the sprawling ten-campus system should have an Ombuds program.  Subsequent internal emails confirmed that the UC Ombuds follow IOA standards of confidentiality.  Although some UC campuses have had Ombuds programs for over four decades, this was the first time the system has acknowledged their role.

4. Concept of Ombuds for Athletes Gains Traction -- Although this may fall in the category of an idea whose time is yet to come, the Athlete Ombuds proposal received a boost on two fronts in 2014.  In May, the annual meeting of Professional Association of Athlete Development Specialists featured a presentation on how Ombuds can help athletes, teams, and organizations. In September, a task force at UC Berkeley looking into low graduation rates for football players, recommended the appointment of an Ombuds specifically for student-athletes following many of the same reasons.  
 
Related posts: The Ombuds Decade in Review; The Ombuds Year in Review: 2010;  The Ombuds Year in Review: 2011 (Part I); The Ombuds Year in Review: 2011 (Part II);  The Ombuds Year in Review: 2011 (Part III); The Ombuds Year in Review: 2012 (Nos. 8-10); The Ombuds Year in Review: 2012 (Nos. 4-7); The Ombuds Year in Review: 2012 (Nos. 1-3); The Ombuds Blog Top Ten Stories of 2013 -- Part One; The Ombuds Blog Top Ten Stories of 2013 -- Part Two; The Ombuds Blog Top Ten Stories of 2013 -- Part Three; The Ombuds Blog Top Ten Stories of 2014, Nos. 7-10.