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Melissa Burgio, a first-year master's student in the Student Affairs Administration program in the Graduate School of Education, is the students' advocate and a graduate assistant in the Office of Judicial Affairs & Ombudsman.
What does the university ombudsman do?
The ombudsman hears and investigates complaints objectively. The complaints usually originate from students and may involve any part of their university experience. As appropriate, we—the ombudsman, assistant ombudsman and students' advocate—act as mediators. Our ultimate goal is to bring the issue to resolution.
You serve as the students' advocate. What specifically do you do? How does your job differ from that of the ombudsman?
I act as an intermediary for students who have complaints about faculty, staff and the administration, or about on-campus services. I provide information to students, answer questions, clarify the University Rules and Regulations and refer students to the proper resources. I can address academic issues, such as grading and academic dishonesty, as well as non-academic issues like financial aid and transportation. All issues brought to me can be kept confidential at the request of the student. My job actually is an extension of the ombudsman position. We work together to provide the services mentioned above.
What is HEYBUD?
HEYBUD is an e-mail account where questions and concerns can be addressed. I
check it daily and respond to all inquiries for assistance from our office.
The e-mail address is heybud@buffalo.edu.
What kinds of problems are brought to the ombudsman?
Our door is open to any person who brings or refers an issue to us. An objective for us is to serve as a one-stop-shop as often as possible. We are willing to discuss any issue a student wishes to share and we address the issue of confidentiality early on. Recent issues we have dealt with include faculty/student conflicts, syllabus issues, academic dishonesty, student account disputes and personal conflicts.
What is the most common problem your office handles?
More often than not, communication difficulties are behind many of the problems. Student/faculty issues usually top our list, with department, program and grading issues following closely.
The ombudsman actually is part of the larger Office of Judicial Affairs & Ombudsman. What other services and programs are provided?
Our office also is home to the Student Wide Judiciary (SWJ), which is the judicial extension of UB's student governments. SWJ has jurisdiction over numerous university-related issues, including violations of non-academic regulations of the university not specifically excluded by other statutory regulations, election disputes arising from student elections and disputes arising between student governments. Our office also administers the Community Service Program. Community service hours generally are a disciplinary sanction, which allows participants to perform unpaid work to benefit the UB community. It allows members of the UB community to make positive contributions by supporting services that already exist, both on-campus and in the surrounding community. The Student Wide Judiciary, Residence Halls and Amherst Town Court, as well as other outside courts, refer participants to us.
Why is it important that a university have an ombudsman?
The need for an ombudsman service increases with the size of the university. It is difficult to imagine the number of things that can, and do, go wrong in a student's life. At a large school like UB, it can be easy for students to feel like they have no place to turn to for help with their concerns or that they are being bounced around from office to office. Having an ombudsman service gives students one place to turn to with any problems they may have.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
At the end of the semester, I think it is important to add a special "thank you" to those people that have provided extra help to our office this past semester. Kudos to Teri Pecoraro, Beth Delgenio, Beth Tauke, Frank Carnevale, David Gilles-Thomas, Chris Oliver, Jennifer Brace, Pat Kujawa, Mark Sorel, David Urbanek, Deborah Bracco, Christina Nietopski, Mike Catalano, Eric Cudeck, Michelle Chasse, Kara Chapman, Janina Kaars, Joanne Plunkett, Cheryl Taplin, Irene Holohan-Moyer and Stephen Wallace.