RIT Ombuds Office records

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: RITArc-0180

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The RIT Office of Student Ombudsman records consists of materials related to the office and its activities. The collection includes correspondence, annual reports, and promotional materials. There are also annual reports from 1980s and 1990s. The promotional materials consist of a student handbook, a brochure, and two Student Ombudsman factsheets. The correspondence in the collection includes letters covering the establishment of the office on a permanent basis, containing a job listing for an Ombudsman, introducing faculty and staff to the office's services, and celebrating the appointment of Lee Twyman as the office's first permanent Ombudsperson.

A folder list follows.

Folder list

"RIT Student Misconduct: Disciplinary Cases Study" 1989 [3 copies]
"RIT Student Misconduct: A Perceptions Study" 1989 [3 copies, including Stan McKenzie's copy]
"RIT Residence Life Student Behavior Study" 1990
Disciplinary actions and various reports, 1980-1994
Annual Reports, 1991-1993
"The Ombuds Handbook" 1995
Factsheets, correspondence, circa 1990-1997
Standards of practice, correspondence, promotional materials, circa 2006-2011

Dates

Creation: 1980-2011

Creator

Rochester Institute of Technology. Office of Student Ombudsman (Organization)
Rochester Institute of Technology. Ombuds Office (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers.

Biographical / Historical

The Office of Student Ombudsman was started in 1989 as part of a three year pilot project. It was reformed to create the Ombuds Office in 2006.

The term "ombudsman" means "representative" in Swedish. The first ombudsman office at a college was established at Eastern Montana College in 1966. The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) created a similar with the mission of helping students in the process of resolving problems with RIT, and identifying areas where problems seem to recur and communicate that information to appropriate personnel who can remedy the problem.

The Office of Student Ombudsman was set up to act as a neutral party to help resolves disputes, conflicts, and other situations students might face on campus. The first Student Ombudsman at RIT was Dr. Barry R. Culhane. The office was deemed a success and by 1993 the Policy Council decided to permanently establish the office on RIT's campus.

The Office of Student Ombudsman remained an important part of the RIT community until July 2006, when RIT president Albert J. Simone announced that a newly formed Ombuds Office would be available for faculty and staff as well as students. The office served as a "neutral and confidential service where [individuals] could voice [their] concerns, sort through the issues, evaluate options and consider next steps." Members of the RIT community could visit the Ombuds Office to discuss any issue such as employee disputes, harassment issues, fair treatment problems, and other concerns. The first Ombudsperson was Lee Twyman who served as the RIT Student Ombudsman prior to the office's creation. As of 2011, the Ombuds Office still played an important part on RIT's campus using the motto "Never the Wrong Place to Go!"