Mary Ann Erickson, secretary in the office of the Ombudsman, said she thinks Ombudsman Tim Griffin’s long beard serves as an identifier to the students.

“Students who call the office to see him cannot remember his title or pronounce it, but they do remember ‘he’s the guy with the beard,’” Erickson said.

Griffin has had the beard since he graduated from high school in 1970, at a time when a student could be expelled from school for having facial hair. It was considered rebellious, Griffin said.

After high school, Griffin attended Western Michigan University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s in counseling and student affairs. He also received a Ph.D. in higher education from Ohio State University. After college, the principal at Hartford Public Schools gave him a job as a high school band teacher on one condition – he shave his beard. This was not the first school to make this request.

“I had a couple offers,” Griffin said “I wasn’t hungry enough yet to be able to do it.”

Griffin needed the job to pay student loans, so he agreed.

The principal felt as a music director, Griffin would be placed in very public venues. The principal thought Griffin would be better received if he did not have the beard, Griffin said.

He had to wait a year before he was able to grow the beard back. He was employed at Hartford Public Schools, in Hartford, Mich., for three years.

The diversity of values and views a university holds is what drew Griffin to universities for employment; he has worked at eight different institutions.

After Griffin retires, an event still several years away, he said he will stop trimming his beard all together, as well as his hair.

“I believe cutting and shaving one’s hair is an act of vanity,” Griffin said. “I feel the same way about meat, especially when one does not require survival.”

Griffin said he tries not to be judgmental toward others with different views.

“What’s morally correct for one person may not be for another.” Griffin said.

Where Griffin grew up in Northern Michigan, it was not uncommon for men to sport such beards, he said.

“Most men have them, it’s just a question of how long they have them,” Griffin said.

Jon Hoag, a graduate assistant in the Ombudsman’s office, said he thinks Griffin’s beard fits his demeanor.

“He’s very calm and peaceful,” Hoag said. “I think it’s cool he wears it how he wants regardless of how it fits into society as a whole.”