Ombuds Benchmarking & Research Resources

The following resources have been compiled by IOA's Title IX Committee for your reference. Some of these document have been produced, written or initiated by IOA. Other documents were obtained from media reports or other sources, but permission has been granted to share them on our organization's website. All files are PDF files unless otherwise indicated.


Survey of Higher Education Ombuds Reporting Under the Clery Act and Title IX

  • In August 2016, the DOE responded to IOA rejecting the clery act arguments. IOA President, Reese Ramos, reached out to the membership summarizing the news. You can re-read Reese's email here
  • Wilmer Hale Memo & Background
  • Campus Ombuds as Confidential Resource for Purposes of Title IX and Clery Act Reporting
  • In 2014, IOA's Ad Hoc Title IX Task Force determined that a legal memorandum from a highly respected law firm, making the case for the ombuds confidentiality in the contexts of both Title IX and Clery, could be extremely valuable to the advancement of understanding and acceptance the ombuds as a non-reporting, confidential resource. In March 2016, the law firm of WilmerHale produced this memo to address whether higher education institutions that have an academic organizational ombudsman (“ombuds”) may treat the ombuds as a confidential resource in light of federal laws that require certain campus personnel to report information about sexual violence incidents to institution officials. 

Clery Act


Government Guidance Documents


IOA Resources


News Articles


Ombuds' Roles: What ombuds do:


Other Charters:


Ombuds Confidentiality


Reports on Sexual Assault


Title IX