Impartiality enables us to advocate for justice and fairness, but mandates that we not be personal advocates on behalf of individuals. We do not represent either employees or management, but seek to bring about fairness for everyone. Independence means that we are not in the management line. Our strength comes through facilitation and influence, not through mandating action. Although we serve on a variety of committees seeking to improve the quality of campus life, we do not take on any additional roles that would compromise our impartiality or independence.
Informality means that our focus is on offering a wide array of options for informal resolution.
Consistent with this, communications with the Staff Ombuds Office do not constitute notice to the University, and do not require the University to take action. To safeguard confidentiality , we do not act as an office of record for any kind of complaint. The ultimate decision on confidentiality belongs to our office, not to the users of our services. We have been moving in the direction of providing an array of options and extensive coaching in the initial session, so that follow-up sessions are less necessary. We also do a great deal of coaching on effective listening and speaking skills.