Ombuds could help your grade

While John Carroll University does have a grade appeal process for students who feel they have been treated unfairly, the policy is lacking one essential component – a person to mediate the disputes.

The Undergraduate Bulletin lays out the five-step process. Students must first consult their professors, and if no agreement can be reached, then students need to appeal to the department chair. If still no settlement is made, the ultimate decision lies with the involved college’s dean after a recommendation from a randomly selected faculty committee member.

The dean can throw the case out if he or she does not believe it has merit.

Brendan Forman, a JCU math and education professor, said he believes the current system can cause students to feel “witch-hunted.” He said the policy creates a “university vs. student” atmosphere that discourages undergraduates with legitimate complaints from coming forward.

Forman said, “The only thing I don’t like about the procedure is that it’s pretty much the student by themselves with no outside party investigating.”

An academic ombuds is how some schools address this issue. The ombuds serves as a neutral party to help settle grade disputes. It is a person to whom students go when they feel a professor has graded them unfairly or is creating an uncomfortable learning environment. An ombuds also fields student complaints about issues like sexual harassment and racism.
Still, the services of an ombuds would not be exclusively for students. Forman pointed out that professors could also go to the person with complaints such as having a disruptive student in class.

Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., is one of only three Jesuit universities that has an academic ombuds. Jack D’Amico, a Canisius English professor, has served as the school’s ombuds for the past three years. He does not make decisions, but rather helps the parties involved resolve conflicts themselves.

“The role of the ombudsman is to make sure everyone involved in the process is treated fairly,” D’Amico said.

D’Amico said the importance of his position is to have someone involved in disputes who is apart from the administration and the department in which the grievance lies.

He acknowledges that a possible problem with an academic ombuds position is that students may raise complaints for subjective reason.

But, D’Amico said he only deals with one or two complaints each semester, and most are justified.

Common points of contention amongst the students who come to him include changes in the syllabus or the addition of new course requirements by a professor.

Like JCU, the only place Canisius’ grade grievance process is printed is in its Undergraduate Bulletin. D’Amico admitted, “I might have more customers if it was publicized a little more.”

JCU Academic Vice President David LaGuardia said he can see the benefits of having an ombuds position, but he is skeptical of how well the person would be able to mediate grievances.

“If a student feels they have been unfairly treated, I’m not sure what an ombuds person could do,” said LaGuardia.
He foresees a problem with students using the resource for the wrong reasons, such as a way to appeal a grade on a paper they believe to be too low.

LaGuardia said that most disputes do not go beyond the student-professor level. “In terms of having an outlet for appeal, we have them,” he said.

LaGuardia added that if the grade appeal process was better known, there might be more interest in pursuing it.

He said adding information about grade appeals on each syllabus could have its benefits.

“As much information you can get on a syllabus is beneficial, the problem is that they’re getting longer and longer,” LaGuardia said.

This summer, JCU will form a committee to research the role of ombuds at other universities.

But according to Jonathan Smith, executive assistant to the president, the possibility of an academic ombuds will not be discussed.

Instead, the committee will focus on creating a position to field complaints about “campus culture,” Smith said.

Still, the few academic ombuds in Jesuit schools around the country see the benefit of having such a position.

Kerry Egdorf, faculty ombudsman at Marquette University, said, “I think universities would benefit from having a student ombuds as well as a faculty ombuds.”

Like D’Amico, she sees the position as the easiest way to solve the academic problems that inevitably arise throughout the school year.

***Editor's Note*** At JCU's College of Arts and Sciences, the associate dean fields complaints concerning grades. The position is not mentioned in the procedure in the Undergraduate Bulletin.