University of Wisconsin Oshkosh - Quiver Yearbook (Oshkosh, WI)

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Isn’t it time for UW-0 to hire an Ombudsman?

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What Makes a Good Teacher ? To some students Watson Parker is an evil conservative who would prefer cleanliness and good sense to flashes of the most brilliant genius. He makes students in his classes work hard, and at first turns his more hip pupils off by wearing a bow tie and a crew cut in this day of unbuttoned shirts and long hair. In many ways he looks like a teacher from the dark ages, or at least the 1950’s, who will bore you with long lists of facts and a monotone voice. The facts are that he is conservative, he believes that “the most important thing in teaching is to get the students to master the substance and details of the subject before the y begin to theorize about it, and he is one of the best instructors on campus. His lectures are always filled with fire and wit, and though he often upsets students with his unabashed philosophy on life in general, a good portion of the time lie actually manages to teach something. The secret of his success seems to be a hard headed realism. He asks a lot from his students, and he believes that “teaching is like raising cabbages. Some of your vegetables just aren’t ever going to sprout, and a teacher has to learn to live with the fact that he can’t teach everything to everybody that finds his way into his classroom.” His art is one of gardening. He nurtures students that are learning, and gives them a chance to work on their own, but if the nurturing fails, he doesn’t act as if the world (either his or theirs) has ended. A typical semester in Parker’s class can include up to ten required one page papers, five or six classroom lectures, reading in eight to ten books, and a lot of discussion. The pace is hectic and a few students drop out along the way, but those who finish normally have the satisfied feeling of a- • omplishment. His lecturing style in courses like the ‘Trans-Mississippi West’ or his sophomore surveys of American history is flamboyant and entertaining. Usually the lecture material is not taken from the textbook, but deals instead with a subject that Parker feels competent enough in to handle with an extra dash of flair. He never tries to fool the students into believing that he knows something that he knows nothing about, and he always makes an effort to be pleasant, “and to suffer fools gladly.” Possibly the best thing to be learned from Parker is that good instructors cannot be stereotyped. Inevitably a good teacher has a personality that sets him apart from his fellows and makes him stand out. His demanding style may upset some students in his classes, but for the majority he is exciting and effective. Some of the best advice about teaching that he ever got, he likes to confide with a wry chuckle, came from the battle-scarred principal of a public school in the Bronx, advice which he tends to apply more metaphorically than literally. “Watson,’ said this old beldame, ‘never turn your back on the little bastards.” Wisconsin The Fall issue will be on sale in mid-October. Single issue .... 75 Annual Student Subscription Rate 4 issues .... $2.00 27

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Isn’t it time for UW-O to hire an Ombudsman? The biggest problem that students face while attending the University is finding out how to solve program and teacher problems. There is no one on campus that has enough power and guts to cut through the red tape and attack the roots of the problem. Instead there are several administrators on campus whose official job is to help students with their problems, but whose real job is to fill out three or four dozen forms every week. Considering the amount of paper work required of Department Chairmen and Coordinators, it is a miracle that they manage to find time to talk to students at all. No one can blame them if they are sometimes short with students and unsympathetic. The pressures of the job are intense and complicated, and unfortunately, they are only human and not supermen. What this and other universities need is two Ombudsmen who have enough power and guts to cut through red tape, and who do not fill out forms. A few universities in the United States like Northern Illinois University have instituted an Ombudsman into their bureaucratic structure, but unfortunately their positions rarely fill the actual needs of students. The Ombudsman's job is to solve student problems and to intervene in conflicts that threaten the student’s college success. Ideally he should be able to investigate any faculty member, student, student organization, or administrator on campus and report his findings to the Chancellor of the university; or, if the Chancellor is being investigated, he should be required to report his findings to the Board of Regents. The major problem with the Ombudsman position as now instituted at these universities is that he is just another paper administrator deluged with forms to fill out. He has to justify his every action on paper and keep a running record of his dealings with students. Obviously, this makes most Ombudsmen glorified Coordinators. To be actually effective the Ombudsman has to be freed from all but the most basic paperwork. He has to be able to listen and talk to students during the morning or afternoon and investigate problems brought to him the rest of the time. The present Coordinators are doing an excellent job in their positions. We do not need more administrators. We need someone who is free from administrative tasks. Of course, the Ombudsman’s power should be limited. He should not be allowed to become the most important man on campus. However, he has to have enough power to be effective. In the original concept which was developed by Denmark, the Ombudsman was seen as a representative of the people. As the major representative of the people he was to have enough power to correct any problem within Denmark. The University Ombudsman should be a representative of students. Obviously students should not control the whole university. Therefore the Ombudsman should be an advisor rather than a dictator. His recommendations should be weighed carefully, but the Board of Regents should have the final say. Preferably working with the university, the Ombudsman should be an elected Student Ombudsman whose specific job would be to solve disputes between students and student organizations and government. Last year’s election is a specific example of the need for a student Ombudsman. He could have investigated the election irregularities, found out who was responsible for them, and then reported his findings to the Student Court so that they could hand down a judgement from a position of knowledge rather than from a position of assumption. He should investigate student-teacher disputes along with the University Ombudsman and make a separate report and recommendation. Both of these Ombudsmen should have a secretarial staff to fill out forms necessary for any university job and handle all other administrative problems. This is the key to the Ombudsman pro -posal. Without such help the offices are useless. The problem of red tape at Oshkosh has gotten out of hand. Dozens of students every year fail to graduate on time because of some minor problem that could easily have been solved. Also there are too many disputes and hassles that are not necessary. Hopefully a University and Student Ombudsman can be hired before next fall. Perhaps the University can then get down to the job of educating and get out of the business of argument and obstruction.