If you are a college or university student facing significant issues with your school's disciplinary or other administrative procedures, or having another dispute with the school, then you may already be aware that your school offers students an ombuds office. Your instructors, advisors, or other school officials may already have referred you to the ombuds office, urging you to rely on the school ombud for advice and counsel. Consider the following information before you do so. Get the independent advice and effective advocacy of the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team instead of relying on your school's ombud function. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to tell us about your case.

What Is an Ombud?

According to the International Ombuds Association, an ombud, ombudsperson, or ombudsman, is an employee or official within an organization whom the organization designates to act as a neutral conflict resolver or problem solver. The ombud may resolve conflicts between or among employees of the organization or between the organization and its customer or provider. The idea is that the ombud can act as a neutral party, suggesting advice, interests, solutions, considerations, and compromises that may forestall more serious charges, accusations, and administrative, court, or other dispute resolution procedures.

Different Kinds of Ombuds

The International Ombuds Association clarifies that various ombuds within different organizations can envision and implement their roles differently. You may be dealing with one kind of ombud or another kind of ombud at your college or university. The classical ombud has an authoritative designation to investigate complaints but no more authority than to recommend, rather than to decide and impose, resolutions. An advocate ombud has the organization's authority to advocate on the complainant's behalf, raising grievances. The hybrid ombud may investigate and recommend resolutions to complaints while publishing organizational assessments and reports, thus having both an individual and institutional role. An executive ombud works to hold an organization's leaders and managers accountable to outside standards, both to help outsiders and to safeguard the organization against sanctions. A media ombud may help an organization maintain public transparency, ensuring that media representatives have reasonable access to organization information and activities.

What Is a College or University Ombud?

A college or university ombud is the school official whom the school designates to act as an ostensibly neutral party. The ombud may, in fact, have multiple other roles depending on the size, resources, and staffing of your school's leadership and administration. A college or university ombud may, for instance, have other administrative duties representing the school to the public, alumni, and other constituencies. An ombud may wear many hats, only one of which is to hear complaints about how your school is implementing its policies and procedures, and managing its risks, liabilities, and other significant legal, administrative, reputational, and relational issues. An ombud, though, would not likely have significant instructional duties but would instead be more of an administrator, perhaps with former instructional experience.

What Are an Ombud's Qualifications?

A college or university ombud likely has some training or experience in mediation, investigation, and other facilitative dispute resolution. Your school's ombud may also have substantial experience in the school's administrative matters. Your ombud is likely highly familiar with the academic culture, environment, and programs at your school. But your ombud is much less likely to have education, training, and experience as an academic administrative lawyer. Your ombud may not have gone to law school, may not have earned a law license, and may not have practiced academic administrative law. Your ombud may be entirely or largely unfamiliar with the laws, rules, regulations, and procedures that apply to your legal rights, claims, and privileges. Your ombud almost surely does not have the substantial advocacy, negotiation, and administrative dispute resolution skills and experience of the attorneys on our Student Defense Team. Beware the limitations of your school's ombud's qualifications.

Where Are School Ombuds Located?

Your college or university likely houses your school's ombud in a central administrative office where the school locates other leaders and managers, including the school's president, vice president, provost, and leading student and academic deans. Your school's ombud thus may have close professional relationships with your school's leadership and management. Your school's ombud may even attend leadership meetings, provost meetings, board meetings, and other gatherings of key school leaders and managers. Your school's ombud will very likely know the internal workings, managerial and leadership culture, and political and reputational sensitivities of your school. You won't likely find your school's ombud in the classrooms, dormitories, dining halls, and other student or teaching staff facilities, but rather in your school's most hallowed halls.

What a College or University Ombud Does

Your college or university ombud is more likely a classical ombud than any of the other ombud forms. Your college or university ombud more likely has the primary institutional role of hearing complaints regarding school implementation of policies and procedures, investigating those complaints, and recommending resolutions. Your college or university ombud may have the school's authority to hear complaints about the school from students, graduates, alumni, employers, contractors, staff members, or some number of those groups. Your school may, for instance, limit the ombud to hearing only student complaints, or student and staff member complaints. The time, sensitivity, skill, neutrality, and effectiveness of your school's ombud may depend on which groups the ombud has the authority to serve. An ombud serving only students may be more conducive to acting on student interests than an ombud that also serves staff members, alumni, employers, vendors, or others complaining about the school.

Examples of College and University Ombuds

Examples of college and university ombuds offices abound. Harvard University, for instance, staffs and advertises an Ombuds Office “available to anyone from Harvard's community.” Michigan State University, for another instance, staffs and advertises an Office of the University Ombudsperson. Michigan State University's ombuds office serves not only students but also staff members. The University of Georgia likewise offers the services of the University of Georgia Ombudspersons within its Equal Opportunity Office. The University of Georgia's ombuds office also serves all members of the school community, including both students and staff, and prepares annual reports to the school's leadership on trends in school issues, thus serving a hybrid institutional role. The Ombuds Blog lists dozens of similar college and university ombuds offices nationwide.

School Representations of the Ombud Role

Colleges and universities generally tout their ombuds as deeply committed, independent, and trustworthy advocates for student and staff interests. Michigan State University's ombuds office, for instance, boasts, “We operate independentlyof the University.” Harvard University's ombuds office, for another example, boasts that it is “confidential, impartial, independent, and informal.” Expect your college or university ombuds office to make similar assurances of independence. Your college or university wants to assure you of the ombud's value and integrity, coaxing you to rely on the ombud's advice, counsel, and recommendations to resolve your school issues.

Reliance on School Ombuds Assurances

In theory, resorting to the ombud on the basis of the school's promises and glowing assurances may do you no harm, especially insofar as the ombud will not generally have the authority to impose a resolution that you would prefer to reject. Your problem is that an ombud can be a convincing advocate for what the ombud believes is the preferred resolution, even if you do not approve of that resolution. Because of the ombud's status, reputation, skills, and experience, you may find yourself accepting opinions and assertions that you know better than to be entirely reliable, valid, and true. Don't let school assurances mislead you into a bad resolution of your matter. Once you agree to a resolution and the school implements it, you may be stuck, no matter what you would later have preferred to do. Beware of relying on an ombud's assurances of independence.

An Ombud's Real Interests

An ombud may have exactly the role and responsibility that your college or university describes. But your ombud may also have other interests that the school has not disclosed. It may serve you well to keep those other interests in mind if and when listening to an ombud's opinions, assertions, counsel, and advice. Consider the following real and substantial ombud interests, potentially influencing your ombud's assertions.

An Ombud's Employment Interests

First, keep in mind that an ombud is generally an employee of the school whom the school rewards with substantial compensation, security, status, and benefits. Your ombud's first interest may be to preserve that employment, even if it means sacrificing independent advocacy that might have served you well. Your ombud may be unwilling to go against the school that employs your ombud. It would be natural for an ombud to allow employment compensation, security, and benefits to influence the extent, frankness, and other qualities of the ombud's advice.

An Ombud's Relationship Interests

Second, be aware that an ombud likely has long-standing professional and personal relationships within your college or university. Your ombud may have just met you. But your ombud may have known the professor, dean, advisor, disciplinary official, registrar, or other school employee about whom you complained for many years. And your ombud will likely continue to work and communicate with those school officials about whom you complain long after you have graduated from the school. Those relationships may naturally influence your ombud's assertions and advice in ways that could work against your best resolution.

An Ombud's Institutional Interests

Also, be aware that your ombud likely has significant institutional interests that may color your ombud's assertions and advice. Your ombud works at your college or university, as closely identified with the school as any other higher-ranking school official. Your ombud may be an alumni of the school, may attend school sporting events rooting on the school's teams, and may enjoy among peers, friends, and acquaintances the high professional standing of being a significant official within the school. In short, your ombud may value and respect your school more than you.

An Ombud's Personal Interests and Affinities

Your ombud also surely has personal interests and affinities. Your ombud surely has limited personal time, emotion, thought, and energy to your matter. Your ombud may also like or dislike academic issues, behavioral issues, undergraduate students, graduate students, professional students, professors, advisors, student activists, or student-athletes. Your ombud likely also has political, social, religious, and other leanings. Your ombud may draw on those affinities and personal interests and preferences when giving you counsel and advice. Beware of personal biases and interests when accepting advice from an ombud whom your school employs.

An Ombud's Conflicts of Interest

Everyone has their own interests. That's just a fact of life. The problem with accepting advice, counsel, assertions, opinions, and recommendations from a college or university ombud is that the ombud's interests may conflict with your interests. When you and your advisor have conflicting interests, you are unlikely to get sound, independent, trustworthy advice. Here are some examples of potential conflicts of interest that your ombud may have, even if your ombud is a person of good character and professional integrity:

● the ombud could be protecting a professor with whom you have a grade or academic misconduct dispute because of the ombud's professional relationship with and personal respect for the professor;

● the ombud could be protecting an administrator with whom you have a registration or other dispute because of the ombud's reliance on that administrator to accept proposals and resolutions in other matters;

● the ombud could be protecting disciplinary investigators or other disciplinary officials with whom you have a dispute because of the ombud's constant dealing with those officials on other disciplinary matters;

● the ombud could be resisting sharing helpful options and resolutions with you after perceiving that the school official or employee about whom you complain wants you out of the program or school;

● the ombud may be giving your matter inadequate investigation, negotiation, and time because of the demands of other school matters the ombud is handling, giving your matter a lower priority than it deserves;

● the ombud could be deliberately concealing a legal claim that the ombud is aware that you have against your college or university so that you do not pursue the school for damages and injunctive relief, causing the school to withdraw its support for the ombuds office;

● the ombud may be refusing to disclose exonerating or mitigating evidence on your behalf that the ombud discovered during the investigation so as not to prolong your matter and take more administrative time, even though you deserve relief;

● the ombud may be trying to clear the ombuds office of multiple unresolved complaints not yet investigated because of limited time and resources, vacation plans, staffing shortages, and other concerns.

The Perils of Relying on Ombud Advice

You can see how a college or university ombud may have significant conflicts of interest that would keep the ombud from helping you as a true advocate would. What happens, though, when you rely on bad or unqualified advice, conflicted counsel, and incomplete information? Relying on an ombud's unqualified, conflicted advice can result in your agreement to a resolution that works against you or does not work as well for you as other available resolutions would. In short, you can get stuck with poor results. Here are some examples of potential pitfalls and perils of relying on ombud advice:

● the ombud convinces you to admit to disciplinary charges or to accept an inaccurate disciplinary finding when you have grounds to reverse that finding and avoid disciplinary sanctions that will affect your future long-term;

● the ombud lacks the legal knowledge and insight to advise you of claims and defenses that the law provides you, and as a result, you give up those claims and defenses for a less favorable resolution that leaves you at significant disadvantages;

● the ombud overlooks available state or federal administrative agency relief available to you, resulting in your failing to timely pursue that relief;

● the ombud's investigation discovers evidence that would exonerate you from the charges, but the ombud fails to disclose that evidence to you, leaving you with the mistaken impression that you cannot defeat a disciplinary charge;

● the ombud's investigation discerns the lack of credibility in the school's evidence against you and gaps in that evidence that would relieve you from the misconduct charge you face, but the ombud fails or refuses to disclose that evidence because it would lead to a contested hearing at which the school would lose;

● the ombud is unaware of your rights under federal and state disability laws, rules, and regulations, leading you to overlook accommodations, services, resources, and administrative relief that the school should have provided you;

● the ombud fails by ignorance or negligence to disclose to you the right to appeal a school finding of unsatisfactory academic progress and sanction of suspension or dismissal, when you could prove extenuating circumstances and an achievable remediation plan.

The Value of Independent Professional Advice

The above examples of the perils of relying on your college or university ombud's conflicted or unqualified and uninformed advice, counsel, and assertions should already suggest to you the value of our Student Defense Team's independent professional advice. When you retain our attorneys to represent you, we have no conflicts of interest. We will not favor the school, school relationships, or our own personal or professional relationships. Our entire devotion is to you because only you have retained and engaged us. We will have the education, training, skills, and experience to raise your every claim and defense. We will also have every interest in identifying, acquiring, organizing, and presenting your exonerating and mitigating evidence. We will also bring the knowledge and experience of favorable resolutions for hundreds of other students nationwide, ready to advocate and negotiate for your own favorable resolution. Our relationship and devotion are to you, not your school. Our advice, counsel, advocacy, and opinions will have no conflicts of interest and will instead be highly skilled, informed, and qualified.

Students and Ombuds

The skilled and experienced representation of our attorneys is available to you as a college or university student in a dispute of virtually any kind with your school. You may have already brought academic progress, academic misconduct, behavioral misconduct, Title IX misconduct, or other disputes you have with your school to the attention of your school's ombuds office. Your school's ombuds office may have already investigated your issue and made certain recommendations to you. Avoid jumping into the recommended resolution, though, without consulting our attorneys for our independent and qualified advice.

Staff Members and Ombuds

The representation of our premier academic and administrative attorneys is also available to you as a college or university instructor, staff member, or official in your employment or in any other dispute with your school. You may have already reached out to your school's ombuds office for advice and recommendations on your employment or other matters. You may even have come to believe that the ombud's advice and recommendation could serve you as well as you might hope. But don't accept a resolution without our independent advice. We may be able to show you significantly better results than what is likely available to you. You may learn that the ombud's recommendation would leave you without claims, defenses, rights, and privileges that the school should be providing to you.

Premier Student Defense Team Representation

Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team for the independent, trustworthy, and qualified advice, counsel, advocacy, negotiation, and other representation you need for your best results. Our attorneys have helped hundreds of students and staff members nationwide at all kinds of colleges and universities in all kinds of disputes. You may have far more at stake in your dispute than you realize. Your educational or vocational future may be on the line. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to tell us about your case so that you can have our independent and highly qualified advice.