American Economic Association Considering an Ombuds Service for Members

The professional association of American economists has appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on the Professional Climate in Economics to consider ideas that might improve the professional climate for women and members of underrepresented groups. In a report issued earlier this year, the committee made several recommendations, including the creation of an Ombuds program. The AEA committee recommended following the example of the American Philosophical Association:

• The committee recommends that the AEA further investigates the possibility of creating an ombudsperson position for issues related to discrimination and harassment.

Again, the APA provides an example of how this could work in practice.
The APA ombudsperson, whose name and contact information is easily accessible on the APA website, receives informal complaints about possible violations of the APA. The ombudsperson will then try to resolve the matter, and if the matter has been filed by an APA member and the complaint regards discrimination by an institution, the matter may then be treated via the formal complaint process outlined above.

The ombudsperson ordinarily sits on the ad hoc committees that review formal complaints.

The ombudsperson also plays an information role. In particular, the ombudsperson offers the following services: education about the APA non-discrimination policy to the association memberships; access to publicly available anti-discrimination resources for complainants; and help in gathering the employer’s (or prospective employer’s) relevant policies and procedures for complainants. It is explicit in the ombudsperson job description that he/she does not provide legal services.

Finally, the ombudsperson prepares annual reports including summary data on the number and types of complaints received, as well as anonymized information describing each complaint and action taken in response.

It is the committee’s sense that a position such as this is made much more relevant by the existence of the subsequent formal complaint process, with possible sanctions. The committee therefore believes that a final recommendation would require the AEA to first determine whether it is willing to put in place a formal process of complaints and sanctions. One could nevertheless envision creating such an ombudsperson with a narrower role focused on the information provision services.

So far, it does not appear that the AEA has taken steps to implement an Ombuds program. (AEA Committee Report; APA Ombuds.)