Emily
Welcome back. On this episode of Spartan orientation station, we are going to be discussing your rights as a student with our special guests the ombuds person. You may or may not have heard of this position, but it's important to know that it is the most significant tool a student can use to voice their opinions and concerns. The Office of the University Ombudsperson helps students who are dealing with conflict or want to learn more about their student rights. The service operates independently of MSU and is completely confidential so students can feel safe raising concerns. Listen in to learn more about the work they do and how they can help you. My name is Emily Hill. I am a rising sophomore this year and a student coordinator here at NSO, and my major is environmental studies and sustainability.
Mackenzie
And my name is Mackenzie Hanfland and I am a rising junior here at MSU and my major is also environmental studies and sustainability. Today we are joined by Dr. Shannon Burton, who is university ombudsperson at MSU. So to get started off, I just wanted to ask, can you start by introducing yourself and explaining what your role is?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Absolutely. Thank you both. Again, my name is Shannon Lynn Burton, and I'm the university ombudsperson here at Michigan State. Our office is an office that helps students resolve conflict with university representatives. So really, our role is to help prepare students to have those difficult conversations when they're facing struggles in the classroom or outside of the classroom, to help them better understand their rights. And if they are looking to make a formal complaint help them better understand those grievances and complaints structures of the university.
Mackenzie
Perfect. Well, thank you. What do yourself most of the time, what does the ombuds person do?
Dr. Shannon Lynn Burton
So when a student is facing a difficult situation, they can come in, they can call us, we usually try to get students in to see us within 24 to 48 hours. And we will sit down first and foremost and listen to you. We want to hear what your experience has been, and how it is impacting your ability to succeed here at the institution. So that is our first focus. We do this by following our standards of practice, which are which are outlined for us by the International Ombuds Association of Confidentiality. So first and foremost, we want to respect that and make sure that you feel like this is a brave space to be coming forward and sharing your concern. Secondly, we're neutral. So what that means is I don't speak for the university. But I'm not a student advocate either. My focus is really advocating for fair process, fair outcomes, fair treatment. Third, as mentioned in the intro, we are an independent office. So while we're part of the university, the offices charter allows it to act independently so we can question what goes on all levels. And then finally, we're informal. So like I said, before, we don't take any formal complaints, we help students resolve their situations informally.
Emily
Awesome. So if a student wants to get in contact with you, are you located on campus? Do you have an office or anywhere? And then also, what's the best way to get in contact with you?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Yeah, absolutely. So our office is located in room 129, of North Kedzie Hall. So it's right in central campus. I love the entrance on the north side of the building, because it kind of looks like a castle when you walk in. And we're right down that first hallway before the red set of doors. There's also an accessible entrance through the side of the building kind of by the loading dock as well. We're actually in that building by design, because we don't speak for the university. And we're not student advocates. We are not located in the administration building, and we're not located in student services. So we are in an academic building, kind of tucked down our own little hallway. So we really are a good place to kind of come in and come out and really feel like your confidentiality is honoured. We also see students over zoom, we're happy to talk with individuals over the phone as well. And you can reach out to us via email to set up appointments to share your concerns that way too.
Mackenzie
Gotcha. Other than email, is there any other way to get in contact with you? Do you have like a website that you use? Or is it mainly by email?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Yeah, you can certainly give us a call too at 517-353-8830. And we do have a website and that is ombud.msu.edu.
Mackenzie
Okay, I know you mentioned this a little bit briefly before, but I just wanted to touch on it again, does the ombudsperson report to university administration at all?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
We have a reporting line to the president of the university and that's outlined in your student rights document the Student Rights and Responsibilities, we’re actually article 10 of that document. So seeking assistance from our office is your right as a student.
Emily
Awesome. So when students come to you, what kind of problems do they typically have? Or what do you see the like that are most common? What do you think students really like should come to you for?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
So really, they can come see us about any issue that touches on their experience as a student. So most frequently, it falls in the space of academic concern. So it might be a grade dispute with a professor it might be you feel like you've been only charged with academic misconduct. But it also falls into spaces like if you've been charged with another type of conduct violation here at the institution, you can reach out to us to learn more about your rights in that space. But also issues related to discrimination, harassment, academic bullying, those kinds of things, students can come and talk with us before they engage any of those formal processes related to those issues.
Emily
Okay, I have a follow up question. If it's related to grades, when do you suggest that a student reaches out to you, because I know some professors like have deadlines that they need to get grades in by.
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Right. So under the university policy, under the Student Rights and Responsibilities document, a student has until the middle of the following semester to dispute a grade. So if you feel like you have been unfairly graded, you can come in and talk with us. And we'll talk to you a little bit about kind of what policies apply. An example of that might be the Code of Teaching Responsibility. That's one of those big policies I wish more students knew about because that outlines kind of your basic rights in the classroom when it comes to what is expected of your faculty members. One of my favorite items within that policy is that faculty are indeed required to attend class like, just like you are as a student. And the reason that is when you go back to our early ombuds reports in the late 1960s, the language actually says, you know, faculty were flaking out, and not showing up for class. So I like some of that old language from the historical documents. But I think it's a really vital document for students to understand what they should be getting at a bare minimum in their courses.
Mackenzie
For sure. I just wanted to touch on that a little bit more you keep mentioning the Student Rights Document, are all these important documents, where's a good place that we can find those to make sure students kind of have those in their back pocket?
Dr. Shannon Lynn Burton
Yeah, if you search them in the search bar, you should be able to pull them up. But our office, if you're still wondering kind of what policies might apply, we're really good resource to come down to and say, Okay, this is what's happening to me in my class right now, something about it, I often say it's like the icky feeling in your stomach, right? Like something isn't feeling quite right here. And we can sit down to you and help you figure out what policies might apply what procedures might apply, and what options you might have.
Mackenzie
Gotcha. Well, thank you for that. Are these services free for students? I know, education can be very expensive. So I don't want to worry about extra costs.
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
No, no extra costs, you're welcome to consult with us at any point in time at no cost to you.
Mackenzie
Do these services, once you're done being a student at MSU, does it extend any past graduation at all?
Dr. Shannon Lynn Burton
So our offices mandate is to work with currently enrolled students. However, we do occasionally see students who have graduated from the institution or left the institution feel like there have been issues that are still remaining from their time here at MSU. And so we're certainly happy to talk with students to see what those timelines are. And if there is a way that we might be able to assist them in that space.
Emily
So is there anything that you're unable to help students with that you see like students come to you with and you're like, I just cannot touch that?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
So again, our mandate is where students run into conflict with representatives of the university. So occasionally, we will have a student reach out that is having a conflict with a roommate or a conflict with another student here on campus. In those situations, we might refer them to the Office of Student Support and Accountability here on campus. But if a student is unhappy with say how those offices we might refer them to in that situation, manage the situation, then they can certainly come back to us.
Emily
Got it.
Mackenzie
Perfect. So kind of just a one stop shop. If you have something like you're saying that icky feeling, with the university representative, you can always come to you. And if it's not the best place for you to be talking, you can always direct students in the best possible direction.
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Absolutely. When you walk into our main office, in our waiting area, there's actually kind of a crossword on the wall that says ombuds. And then it says listens, which I think is our first and foremost kind of obligation to students is to listen. But it also has things like explains, advisors refers, and I always forget the fifth one. And reviews, those are the five things. And that's been kind of our grounding work in terms of what we do over the history of the office.
Mackenzie
Gotcha. And I know you mentioned a couple times that your services are confidential. Similar to the last question, are there some things that you have to kind of breach confidentiality with or for the most part is everything say confidential?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
For the most part, everything stays confidential. The one space where we might break confidentiality is if we believe there's imminent risk or harm, so a student's a danger to themselves or to someone else. Or if the student waives us from confidentiality to help kind of facilitate some of those conflict resolution strategies like shuttle diplomacy or something along those lines.
Emily
So if I have another group of students with me who is also experiencing something with a teacher, per se, can we make a report as a group like to the ombudsperson.
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
So, just for clarity, we're not an office of report. So we aren't somewhere where you can report misconduct to. We're here to help you kind of understand the structures and help you go to the places where you might make the report. That being said, we can certainly talk with a group of students because of our confidentiality, we'd probably have you sign a waiver so that you can all be in the room together so we can share those concerns as a whole and honouring that confidentiality in that space.
Mackenzie
Gotcha. And then our next question, just pretty broad. What is your favorite part of working with MSU students and just being a Spartan?
Dr. Shannon Lynn Burton
Oh, wow, that's a big question. I think my favorite part about working with students is helping them see those aha moments, helping them kind of grow and develop in the space of conflict resolution, especially because we don't take by and large, right, don't take a class and how to navigate conflict in a healthy way. And that's one of those things that I think is one of the roles of our office really, is to help the students figure out how do I have these difficult conversations, I might be having this difficult conversation with this faculty member or this staff member in this moment in time. But how are the skills that I'm learning in that moment with that particular difficult conversation? How do they transfer out and maybe a conflict I'm having with a roommate or conflict I might be having with mom and dad or a conflict I might be having with a sibling, right? How do we take those skills we learned in that moment, and, and build on that. That's one of my favorite things to do is to do some of those training pieces, too.
Emily
I think that's definitely helpful. And I've definitely learned a lot from this talk that we've just had. Thank you for so much for joining us.
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Yeah, glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
Mackenzie
Is there any like last minute things that you wanted to add while we have you?
Dr.Shannon Lynn Burton
Yeah, if you are part of a student group or a class and you want us to come in and do some training with your group, we're also happy to do that. We have a great kind of grouping of different trainings that we offer around conflict resolution, compassionate communication, group work, those kinds of things. So we're always happy to come out and talk to students and do that kind of training as well.
Mackenzie
Thank you so much.