Petra Holst, the Studentombud at Lund, has issued an annual report covering the 2014-15 academic year, the first year of her office. She reports receiving 490 inquiries from students. Holst chose to highlight a case of bullying (where a student was ostracized by group members in a group project) to illustrate the significant number and problems the behavior causes. She recommended changes in university programs to better assist students who face bullying. (Lundagård.)
Multiple women have come forward claiming that the private Baptist university in Waco, Texas failed to respond appropriately to complaints of rape by a football player. According to a published report, one female student "reported the assault to Baylor's ombudsman office and were sent to meet with the school's chief judicial officer." A spokesperson for the school announced on Monday that an investigation is on-going and that Ombuds will be created for the athletic department.
The small private university in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta is hiring an Ombudsman/Employee Relations Officer. The position "is responsible for coordinating the investigation and resolution of internal complaints including but not limited to discrimination, sexual harassment, employee misconduct, Title IX, mediation requests, or requests for accommodations" -- so a combination of confidential-informal-neutral duties and investigatory-formal-aligned duties.
In June 2015, the Administrative Conference of the United States engaged chiResolutions to conduct a year long study of Federal Ombuds programs. In January, after months of designing a mixed-method survey and identifying Federal Ombuds, chiResolutions invited over 175 Federal Ombuds offices to participate in the survey.
Lies Poesiat, Student Ombudsman at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam reports that 125 were brought to her office in 2014, and all but one had been dealt with by the end of the year. Proportionately, the greatest number of
cases handled by the Student Ombudsman
in 2014 came from students in the
faculties of Medicine and of Psychology
and Education.
The Associated Students of the University of Hawai‘i have passed a resolution supporting the establishment of an Ombuds office at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. The move is likely to bolster on-going efforts by administrators, faculty, and the state legislature to restore the program that closed in 2009. (Kaleo.)
Wayne Marriott, a mediator, conciliator, and conflict coach in New Zealand, has written a blog post explaining why international sporting bodies should implement Ombuds. Most significantly, he sees how the shared goal of integrity, makes Ombuds a natural fit for sport:
The International Ombudsman Association's eleventh annual meeting
will take place April 10-13 at the Westin Seattle. Here's an overview of
this year's agenda:
Columbia's School of Professional Studies, which offers a MS in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, will host an event for aspiring Ombuds on February 4, 2016 from 6:30 to 9:00 pm. The evening starts with a networking event with the panelists and other attendees. The panel will include speakers from federal, NGO, corporate, and education industries.
Mary Rowe, the former MIT Ombuds, has published a short article in October 2015 issue of Harvard's Negotiation Journal: "Negotiations Theory and Ombuds Practice." Although there is not an abstract, the last paragraph somewhat summarizes the article.
Susan Park, the Campus Ombuds at UC Davis, has published a report to summarize the activities of her office since its inception and to share the results of a new satsifaction survey. With the recent departure of Associate
Ombuds Rita Callahan and Park's departure in April 2016, the report may be a critical document for the future of the office.
The International Ombudsman Association will offer its introductory training for Organizational Ombuds in San Antonio, Texas next week. Registration is still open and hotels rooms are available.
The Austrian Student Ombudsman, Josef Leidenfrost, has published his annual report for 2014-15. The summary--which is submitted to the Federal Ministry for
Science, Research and Economy,
and to the Parliament--covers student issues from 69 public and private colleges, universities, and institutes. The report said the Ombudsman received 506 cases and directly resolved 60%.
The public historically black university in in Durham is hiring an Assistant to the Chancellor. The position "will have dual responsibilities in the area of Title IX Coordination and serving as the campus ombudsperson." It appears that this is the first time a position has had such dual responsibilities at NCCU. The position is thus outside of the IOA Standards of Practice. Moreover, NCCU is not following the trend of universities designating their Ombuds as confidential, including another school in the same system, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
UBC is hiring a part-time (80%) Ombuds for its campus in Kelowna. Reporting to both the UBC Ombudsperson, Shirley Nakata, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Okanagan, the position will serve a student body of about 8,500. The search will fill a position established by Maria Mazzotta in 2013.
