The Ombuds Blog: Pacific University Developing Ombuds Program

November 15, 2022

Pacific University Developing Ombuds Program

The private university in Forest Grove, Oregon, is taking steps to create an Ombuds program for employees. An ad hoc task force was appointed in September to develop a position description and charter for the role. The move comes after discussions between the faculty senate and administration last year. Pacific is not planning to provide Ombuds services to its 4,000 students "because of a comprehensive and well-established support structure already in place within Student Affairs." (Pacific Ombuds Task Force.)

1 comment:

Anonymous11/15/2022 3:14 PM
Mistake #1 by Pacific University is not offering the Ombudsman services to the students. Unless the "well-established support structure" means those services within Student Affairs are confidential (and not reporting entities) then those services are not comprehensive. Are those offices also independent or are they beholden to the VP of Student Affairs?
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Organizational Ombuds

Organizational Ombuds serve as a confidential, independent, neutral and informal dispute resolution resource for a specific entity. They are accessible to a defined population and can advocate for fairness. These unique characteristics distinguish Organizational Ombuds from Classical Ombuds, mediators, arbitrators, and other alternative dispute resolution professionals. The term "Ombuds" is shorthand for "Ombudsman," "Ombudsperson" and "Ombuds Officer," which also are used widely.

Some other variants include:

Austria -- Ombudsstelle

Brazil -- Ouvidor

Croatia -- pravobranitelji

France -- médiateur/defénseur

Germany -- Ombudspersonen

Italy -- difensore

Netherlands -- ombudspersoon

Norway -- ombudet

Poland -- Rzecznik

Portugal -- provedor

Russia -- омбудсмен

Spain -- ombudsman organizacional

Sweden -- studentombud

Switzerland -- ombudsmann

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