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Ombuds see increase in conflicts

By Jesse Brown

Friday, November 6, 2009

The University of Kansas Ombuds Office reported 490 cases in the past year in its annual report. Last year the Ombuds reported 420 cases.

The Ombuds Office is an office within the University that aids conflict resolution between faculty and students. Students and faculty can file grievances about grades or stress about job security, among other issues. The information never leaves the office to avoid further conflicts. According to the report, “the mission of the University Ombuds Office is to ensure that all members of the university community receive fair and equitable treatment.”

The report released this week covers from March 1, 2008, to June 30 of this year. According to the report, the numbers for this report may be higher than past reports because it covers a year and a half instead of a year, as past reports have.

Kellie Harmon, University Ombuds, oversees two professors who serve as faculty ombuds, Maria Orive and Stephen Grabow. An ombud is someone who deals with grievances but does not work in any department so as to handle the issue objectively and fairly. When the office receives a complaint, the issue is investigated. The ombuds then suggest options to help ease the conflict.

“The reasons why students mostly come here is usually for grade issues or they have questions about course management issues,” Harmon said.

Some other common issues students report include academic misconduct, housing issues and conflicts with other University units.

Harmon said she stressed to students that this was a safe place to come to with these issues.

“It’s good to have a place you can go to and not fear retaliation,” she said.

Harmon said the office had four main principles that it abided by: confidentiality, informality, impartiality and independence. Everything about the grievance will be kept confidential, Harmon said. The process is informal, which means no records are kept within the office. Once the report has been covered and resolved, the documents get shredded.

Harmon also said the office was impartial and independent from administrative authorities, which meant its work would not be interfered with by anyone or any organization.

Harmon said she was working diligently to get the word out to students that there was an office for grievances.

Brooke Martin, Shawnee sophomore, and Kathryn Unruh, Hayes sophomore, said they had never heard about the office but were glad to know there was an office available should they ever need one.

“Sometimes teachers just don’t have the time to focus on every student,” Martin said.

Unruh said she was worried about a grade this semester because she worried her TA was biased. She said she thought students’ experiences varied greatly depending on their discussion leaders, so having this option was a good example to represent the individual student.

— Edited by Abbey Strusz

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