2023 Year in Review: Top Posts, Cheers/Jeers, and Courage

This is the second post reflecting on the past year. Here are the most viewed posts, highs and lows, and a story about an Ombuds meeting the challenge of her work.

Top Posts of 2023

The Ombuds Blog drew over 600,000 views in 2023. Job postings seem to be the clickbait: half of the most viewed posts were about job openings. Curiously, two top posts were from prior years.

1. Job Posting: Oregon State University (October 16, 2023)
2. Jared Lee: UC Irvine Ombuds (August 23, 2023)
3. Boston Children’s Hospital Selects First Ombuds (September 13, 2021)
4. Cal Caucus Posts Agenda, Opens Registration for 50th Annual Meeting (June 13, 2023)
5. IOA Posts Agenda and Opens Registration for 2023 Conference (January 6, 2023)
6. Year-Long Study of U.S. Federal Ombuds Launches (February 1, 2026)
7. Job Posting: International Organization for Migration (November 6, 2023)
8. Job Posting: National Institutes of Health (July 14, 2023)
9. Job Posting: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (April 14, 2023)
10. Job Posting: MWI (May 1, 2023)

Highs & Lows from 2023

A few posts highlighted the good and bad news from the year. Let's start with the bad, so we can end on a positive note.

Jeers

• Jeers to the City of Richmond, which posted an opening for its first Ombuds in August. Allegedly, the position was to be IOA compliant. But a one day posting and a reporting line to the head of HR raised grave concerns. The appointment has not been announced.

• Jeers to the San Mateo County Community College District which decided to create an Ombuds office in February. In May, the district decided to combine the duties of the Ombuds and Chief Diversity Officer, despite explicit warnings from Ombuds experts that the roles were incompatible. When unveiled in October, the Ombuds program purported to follow IOA standards, but came with exceptions gutted the role (ie: "All interactions with the Ombuds Office are strictly confidential except cases where there is consent by complainant; imminent harm to the complainant, others or District/Colleges; or a legal concern.").

• Jeers to South Texas College which had to extend its search for an Ombudsperson in December. Maybe it's having a hard time because it wants to pay the full-time position just $42,640 per year.

Cheers

• Cheers to IOA Board of Directors and its Executive Director for their continued advocacy to protect the profession. In May, Jessica Kuchta-Miller, Ellen Miller, and Steve Prevaux presented a session to the National Association of College and University Attorneys; in June, IOA published a new resource identifying and explaining U.S. case law, statutes, and regulations: "An Overview of Ombuds Confidentiality"; and in September, IOA sponsored a Clery Center 2023 Virtual Summit.

• Cheers to the organizers of the California Caucus of College and University Ombuds, which marked half a century in a sold out event in June.

• Cheers to Jutta Reitmeier and Diana Vermeul who stepped up to restart the European Ombuds & Mediators Group in October.

• Cheers to the City of Philadelphia which appointed its inaugural Employee Ombudsperson, Shakeya Foreman, in October and quickly opened a search for an Assistant Ombuds.

• Cheers to organizers of Ombuds Day 2023, especially Subcommittee Chair Ryan Smith, for a collaborative and inclusive celebration that spanned the globe in October.

Ombuds Courage in 2023

In the winter semester of 2023, Alexia Wright, the Ombudsperson at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology began giving upward feedback about several serious student issues. At the time, she had been NAIT's Ombuds for over three years. She was a certified mediator and had completed Ombuds training at Osgoode Hall. She earned her Master's degree in Higher Education Administration, and Leadership at Royal Roads University. Wright had also served as the Treasurer for the Association of Canadian College and University Ombudsperson from 2020 to 2022.

As the winter wore on, Wright faced mounting pushback from the NAIT administration despite the fact that she was doing her job exactly as described. Then, in March, she was fired without notice or good cause. The university demanded that she transfer her files to a student life administrator and she refused. Without any announcement, NAIT wiped the Ombuds Office from all of its websites and removed signage from the campus. (The former website for the office now redirects to a student life page.) Wright has left the Ombuds profession and is now Head of Marketing and Social Media for Tribul, an art auction house.

Related posts:

• The Ombuds Decade in Review;
• 11 Stories that Shaped the Ombuds Profession in the 2010's;
• 2020 Year in Review: Transitions; 2020 Year in Review: Signs of Hope; 2020 Year in Review: Courage and Crises;
• 2021 Year in Review: Transitions; 2021 Year in Review: Responding to Challenges; 2021 Year in Review: Setting the Stage for Positive Change
• 2022 Year in Review: Transitions; 2022 Year in Review: Cheers & Jeers; 2022 Year in Review: The Big Trends;
• 2023 Year in Review: Transitions.