Undergraduate students were the group of individuals most assisted by NIU’s ombudsman’s office last year, a recent report states.

Ombudsman Bertrand Simpson said, “There are two reasons why we help them (undergraduates) the most. Number one, undergrads outnumber every other group and number two, graduate students may have a better idea of where to go to for help.”

The purpose of the ombudsman’s office is to help students with problems they have with the university, whether the concern be grade appeals, parking tickets, bursar problems, student-employee problems, residence halls, student judicial problems, sexual assault, or roommate differences of opinion. Last year, the ombudsman’s office even helped a student find a place to live.

The number of undergraduates helped by the office during 1987-88 was 157, a great deal larger than any other group. The most frequently cited problem was with departmental policies, for a total of 36 situations. Problems involving faculty employment, grade appeals and parking issues were brought up 11 times each.

Other individuals assisted by the ombudsman’s office last year include:

6 faculty members

0 civil service employees

3 graduate students

student-at-large

Simpson said, “I believe we are more busy this year than last year … I haven’t added up the numbers yet, but I am more busy because of two reasons: registration stamps and changes in parking.

“Given circumstances will change and increase the amount of red tape around here,” Simpson said.

Simpson is beginning his second year at NIU. He started his work as ombudsman in July 1987.

The ombudsman’s report highlights three major trends at NIU: racial intolerance, sexual harassment and the need for different individuals to work together in the community.

As for NIU’s reputation for being a racist campus and other campuses being racist, Simpson said the problems are long-term and are not going away. “As a black man from Chicago, I believed along with others that SIU (Southern Illinois Univesity) was a relatively racist place. U of I (University of Illinois) was better, but it was not an environment devoid of racism. I think Northern has had a lot of racist incidents in the past years, and so it has that kind of reputation.”

Simpson said, “I don’t think we are having a resurgence of racism; it’s just that different age groups are dealing with it at a different time. I met it when I went to school. You are meeting (it) now in school, and your children will meet it when they go to school.”

Simpson relates this to lack of experience in dealing with other people of different races. “When you are in a confined environment, there will be problems and there will always be problems.”

Sexual harrassment at NIU is usually from student to student, such as date rape and acquaintence rape.