Professor Mindy Engle-Friedman of Ombuds provided us some information about mediating conflicts (and resolving disputes…). An Ombuds is a person who helps students of Baruch with any problems they may have. Whether it be a personal issue (i.e., family issues, peer issues) or an academic issue (with professors), any and all conversations are kept confidential. The Ombuds is supposed to be a neutral, unbiased party member. They have to be fair and professional.
These burdens of the Ombuds proved to be especially difficult once role-playing was involved. People were given roles such as complainer, mediator (Ombuds), and the person the complainer is making a complaint about. I, of course, was the complainer. (I fit the role quite nicely.) My situation was that I had failed a course that prohibited me from going to the Zicklin School of Business. I was supposed to fight for my case. …Which was quite hard, considering that if I failed a course, I don’t see any way how I’d, for lack of a better term, un-fail it. Fortunately, the Ombuds’s (the real one) brilliant mind thought up that I could say my tests were graded unfairly! So, I called for a re-grading of the tests. The mediator (the role-playing one) didn’t do such a good job, but I’ll forgive him. Because in the end, I passed the hypothetical course. I think.