Interim panel asks higher‑education leaders to create ombuds positions after student testimony

An interim legislative committee established under House Bill 284 voted unanimously to direct staff to draft a letter requesting that the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and the presidents of the University of Montana and Montana State University establish confidential ombuds positions to assist students who bring civil‑rights and free‑speech complaints.

Co‑Chair Curti moved the action during a work session following more than an hour of public comment from students and student‑group leaders. Curti said the positions should provide "private confidential discussions with individuals that have complaints, civil rights complaints," and urged the regents to consider whether one ombuds could serve a broader set of campuses or whether each flagship should have its own office.

Representative Overstreet pressed for accountability safeguards during the debate, proposing a substitute to include reporting or other mechanisms so that the ombuds program would not be entirely opaque. "There needs to be a way though, in my opinion, for aggrieved students to be able to say, I went to the ombuds and absolutely nothing happened," Overstreet said, urging a mechanism for oversight. Co‑Chair Curti accepted the accountability language as a friendly amendment to the request.

Student witnesses — several of whom attributed their complaints to Montana State University (MSU) policies and enforcement — told the committee they want clearer, enforceable protections and better training for staff. Hannah Allen, a longtime activist, said student surveys she collected showed high support for measures to protect campus speech and that prior legislation and court actions left gaps; Allen offered to share her survey methodology with staff.

Buddy Wilson, president of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM), told the committee his campus "maintains clear processes to protect students' First Amendment rights" and described ASUM's role assisting students. He said student government employs lawyers who can accompany students in academic hearings, but witnesses and members acknowledged those remedies are different from a confidential ombuds process.

Committee staff said they will draft the letter and circulate it, along with proposed findings and recommendations (including requests for clearer, accessible university policies and staff training), in advance of the committee's next meeting for public review. The transcript records the motion and the clerk's announcement that "the motion carried unanimously," but a roll‑call tally of individual votes was not recorded in the transcript.

The committee's requested letter will be transmitted as a recommendation only; committee members said funding and implementation decisions would remain with the Board of Regents and the university system.