The services of the office are to assist and ensure fair and equitable treatment within the University system to staff, administrators, and students. Our role is to work with individuals or groups to resolve conflicts and to advocate a fair process in a non-adversarial environment. All conversations are confidential to the extent of the law. On campus, there is a growing level of stress. Some items of dispute seen on a regular basis are conflicts with parking management, housemate problems, co-worker and supervisor disagreements, and so on.
Mediation is a service offered.
A process of bringing people together to talk about their issues and to get them to communicate. Not all cases need mediation and we try to resolve problems without it. Oftentimes, the Ombudsman's office is a good place to start and we will direct an individual to the proper source. We do not provide legal advice and we only work on cases that involve people on campus. We also house a small library of books, articles, and videos on conflict management.