Campus to create position to handle student complaints

The ombudsman position would be part of YSU's effort to make the campus more student-friendly.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- You're an 18-year-old freshman at Youngstown State University and have a complaint about one teacher, a respected, veteran professor.
What do you do? Confront the professor face-to-face? No way.
Talk to the department head, or the college dean? Too intimidating.
How about calling the university provost or president? Way too intimidating.
So, many times, students don't do anything. And sometimes, that means they end up leaving the university with a big case of sour grapes.
New position: In an effort to sweeten the experience, YSU plans to create a new position of university ombudsman, someone who will listen in confidence and try to resolve student complaints before they fester into long-lasting, bitter memories.
"Any effort to create an office just to deal with student concerns is a great step," said Joe Gregory of Canfield, YSU Student Government president and a senior marketing major.
"Students have a lot of concerns, whether it be about scheduling classes, professors, careers -- you name it. There's always issues that students aren't quite certain about what they should do."
YSU President David Sweet said the ombudsman should be in place by July 1 and is part of his efforts to make YSU more student-friendly.
An independent consultant told YSU trustees last fall that developing a more welcoming campus environment will be a key if the university hopes to reverse a decade-long enrollment decline.
Enrollment goal: In February, Sweet announced that he wants enrollment to increase by 5 percent this fall and launched searches to replace administrators overseeing three offices that have direct contact with students: recruitment, financial aid and registration.
University Registrar Bill Countryman, a 32-year YSU employee, is among the administrators who will be replaced. Sweet said he likely will name Countryman the university's first ombudsman.
"Everyone that we talked with said Bill is an outstanding example of the kind of person who is very responsive to and concerned with the plight of students, and so I think this would be a good use of his talents," Sweet said.
YSU is a latecomer in the ombudsman world. Many universities and colleges, including Kent State University and Ohio University, have had such positions since the 1970s.
"To me, it seems like kind of a no-brainer thing to do," said Herman Hill, OU ombudsman and president-elect of the University and College Ombuds Association.
"One of the things the ombudsman office tries to do is resolve problems before people get so mad that they get lawyers or Uzis involved. If you can fix just one of those things a year, I think it's well worth the effort the university puts into it.
"In terms of improving morale and the spirit on campus, it's kind of hard to put a dollar value on it."
Range of problems: Hill said he gets 200 to 300 cases a year that include complaints about university housing, financial aid, grades, professors and personnel conflicts.
Gregory Jarvie, KSU student ombudsman, said he receives about 650 student complaints annually.
"We deal with everything from bad macaroni salad in the cafeteria all of the way up to a student being dismissed for academic or behavioral reasons, and anything in between," he said.
Hill said he is part counselor, part problem-solver.
"I spend a lot of time listening and nodding my head and apologizing on behalf of the university," he said.
"We try to get the student to the right person, the right office that they need to talk to, to solve their concern," Jarvie said.
Hill said the biggest complaint he receives is about grades, where a student receives a lower grade than expected.
He said OU has a formal process to resolve such disputes, but it can take several months "and you end up with a lot of bitterness and hard feelings."
So, Hill said many times he will contact the faculty member and try to resolve the problem before the formal process kicks in.
Hill also said it's particularly important these days, when universities are relying more and more on financial support from alumni, to make sure students are happy with their college experience.