Volume
1, Number 2 March/April 2000
UCOA
Endorses Proposed Standards for the Establishment
and Operation Of Ombudsman Offices
The
University and College Ombuds Association (UCOA)
Board met on March 23 (via teleconference) and endorsed
the ABA Ombudsman Steering Committee March 6, 2000 draft
of the proposed Standards
for the Establishment and Operation Of
Ombudsman Offices and the Report
to the Sections of Administrative Law and Regulatory
Practice and Dispute Resolution.
UCOA's endorsement will now be sent on to the ABA Steering
Committee, with one relatively minor request for modification.
The sentence in question is found in the first paragraph
of the PREAMBLE. The proposed wording change is from
"Ombudsmen protect individual rights against the excesses
of public and private bureaucracies" to "Ombudsmen protect
individual rights within entities and from the excesses
of public and private bureaucracies." UCOA's endorsement
however, is not predicated on acceptance of this modification,
and will stand if this recommendation is not accepted.
The
Standards and Report represent a three year plus effort
on the part of a dedicated group of organizational and
classical ombudsmen and ABA representatives. UCOA's
representatives on the ABA Steering Committee were Mary
Rowe, Ellen Waxman and Ella Wheaton. The resulting draft
is seen by many as a milestone
in the evolution of the ombuds profession in the United
States and provides a clear and comprehensive
definition of the word ombudsman and accepted baseline
standards of practice. This effort is particularly timely
and important for UCOA because it informs and supports
ongoing efforts by UCOA membership to develop Standards
of Practice for university and college ombuds, drafts
of which will be discussed at the Association's June
meeting in San Francisco.
The
ABA documents, as well as a host of other information
on ombudsing, may accessed via the ABA
Ombudsman website.
