OMBUDSMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION: SIMILARITIES, DIVERGENCES, AND THE RISE OF ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

This thesis examines the historical role of ombudsmen in institutions of higher education in the United States (U.S.) and explores whether the rise of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has significantly affected the role they play in managing conflict and disputes. It is proposed that the experiences of ombudsmen over time and the impact of ADR have pushed ombudsmen from a classical model to a systems model. The classical model emerged with the first university ombudsmen offices in the 1960s, based upon the early Swedish parliamentary ombudsman. The systems model focuses on systematic approaches to conflict management and dispute resolution in the workplace and features the ombudsman playing an active role in the design and implementation of a system. There is a dearth of quantitative or qualitative data on ombudsmen in higher education. The need to collect data and the belief that ombudsmen in higher education are in a unique position to contribute to the future of conflict management and dispute resolution design provided motivation for this study. The approach used was to identify all ombudsmen in higher education in the U.S. and to develop and administer a survey to examine the creation of these offices and their subsequent development. The survey consisted of three parts focusing on (1) the collection of current demographic information on higher education ombudsmen offices; (2) attitudinal queries regarding the ombudsmen, focusing on their principles and beliefs; and (3) collection of demographic information on the ombudsman professional. The survey found widespread agreement on standards of practice – independence, neutrality, impartiality, confidentiality, and informality – with many voluntarily following the standards of practice established by professiona