Terms of Reference for the Ombudsperson Committee

1. Mandate and Objectives

The mandate and objectives for the Ombudsperson’s Committee are as follows:

a) To select the Ombudsperson and conduct the Ombudsperson’s performance evaluation;

b) To provide advice and guidance to the Ombudsperson as required and/or upon request;

c) To approve forward planning for the Office;

d) To approve the annual budget of the Office and monitor expenditures;

e) To ensure responsibility for broad dissemination of the Ombudsperson’s report; and,

f) To respond appropriately to any alleged procedural or substantive violation of the Office of the Ombudsperson’s Terms of Reference.

2. Membership

The Committee is composed of the Ombudsperson (as an ex-officio, non-voting member) and nine (9) voting members as follows:

a) Two (2) representatives appointed by the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) executive;

b) Two (2) representatives appointed by the Toronto Metropolitan Association of Part-time Students (TMAPS) executive;

c) One (1) representative appointed by the Toronto Metropolitan Graduate Student Union (TMGSU) executive;

d) Four (4) representatives appointed by the Provost & Vice President, Academic and Vice-President, Administration and Operations with two such members being staff of the TMU and two members from the faculty of TMU, one being a member of the Graduate Faculty (Yeates School of Graduate Studies).

3. Operation

The Committee will choose a Chair at its first meeting of the academic year.

Regularly scheduled meetings will be held at least once a semester in the Fall and Winter terms and may be scheduled at the call of the Chair or the Ombudsperson.Quorum for the committee is defined as two-thirds of its members.

Persons may be invited to observe and/or participate in meetings; in-camera sessions may also be called.

The Committee will endeavour to operate by consensus, but any member present may require a vote on any matter under consideration.

The Committee periodically reviews its own terms of reference and those of the Ombudsperson. This will be done after the first year of operation and on an as-needed basis from that point forward. Any changes to the terms of reference for the operation of the Committee or the Office of the Ombudsperson will require:

a. Notice of recommended changes will be provided at least two weeks in advance of a special meeting called for the purpose of reviewing the terms of reference.

b. Two-thirds (2/3) of the voting members of the committee, e.g. six (6), as there are nine (9) members of the committee, must be in favour in order for changes to be made to the terms of reference.

The Committee respects the confidentiality of the Ombudsperson’s casework and shall not have access to any confidential information from Office records that identifies individuals or groups of individuals.

4. Administrative Structure

Oversight of the Office of the Ombudsperson will be provided by the Ombudsperson’s Committee as described above.

The Ombudsperson’s annual report will be delivered to the Provost & Vice-President, Academic and Vice President, Administration and Finance Operations of TMU, to the presidents of the TMSU, TMAPS and TMGSU, and, and Senate to then be widely disseminated within the TMU community.

Revised: June 2001 and April 2006 and October 2009 & 2022.