The University of Oregon Ombuds Program has released its annual report for the 2022 fiscal year, providing an overview of the services from July 2021 through June 2022 including the number of cases, concerns, visitors and a breakdown of outcomes from services.
The report is available on the Ombuds Program website.
“The data in this report reflect our ongoing efforts to provide an accurate and increasingly detailed snapshot of our campus and areas where our program is having meaningful impact,” said Brett Hathaway Harris, university ombudsperson.
The Ombuds Program provides confidential, impartial, independent and informal conflict management assistance to members of the university community. The annual report includes nonidentifiable aggregate case data to report trends and topics that may be useful to campus partners, leaders and the university community.
In the 2022 fiscal year, the program handled 349 total cases consisting of 763 separate concerns from 460 visitors seeking out program services. All of those numbers are up from the previous year. Sara Ash joined the Ombuds Program in July 2021 as assistant ombuds, filling a position that had been vacant for the previous year.
Harris says the Ombuds Program annual report reflects localized concerns about workplace climate that are consistent with those found in the universitywide IDEAL Climate Survey. The survey of faculty members, officers of administration, classified staff and graduate employees was conducted by Gallup in April 2022.
“The campus climate survey showed there is work to be done on campus,” said Harris, who serves on the climate survey action committee and the response, reporting and anti-discrimination working group. “The Ombuds Program data are consistent with those results, indicating the impact of these localized climate issues, and that there is high demand for unitwide climate services and support. It gives some direction about how the university can focus its efforts.”
Of the cases brought to the Ombuds Program, 77 percent were resolved, up from 71 percent in the previous year.
“We are grateful to have helped resolve so many cases and to know that our work is having a meaningful impact,” Harris said. “It has also been helpful to have more granular data on the cases being reported to our office, specifically on DEI and climate-related concerns. All of this information will help us better serve our campus community.”
—By Jim Murez, University Communications