Oct. 10, 2019 - Happy National Ombuds Day 2019! CSU Channel Islands is proud to join hundreds of other institutions of higher education, government and industry in celebrating the role of the ombuds in assisting people resolve conflict.

The role of the ombuds is new for CSUCI, however, it traces back over 200 years ago to Sweden. At that time the royal ombudsman was a government official charged with advocating on behalf of citizens with complaints or problems with the government.

Today, the University Ombuds is a confidential, impartial, informal and independent conflict management professional who works to address individual and systemic issues outside of and complementary to formal channels such as human resources, grievances, complaints, and legal action. The University Ombuds also provides a powerful risk management resource for the University, identifying patterns and concerns in ways that might not otherwise come to light through other channels.

CSUCI welcomed Mark Patterson as the inaugural University Ombuds Officer this summer. Mark is here to serve and members of the campus community are encouraged to become familiar with the ombuds role and to make use of these essential services broadly.

If you are a University employee (including student employees) and want to shape how the ombuds office will serve us in the future, complete this anonymous questionnaire, managed by a team from the Harvard Law School Dispute Systems Design Clinic. The questionnaire should not take more than 5 minutes to complete and your answers will be directly and anonymously sent to the Harvard Clinical Team; no one at CSUCI will be able to view them.

For more information about the study or to request assistance in taking the survey with adaptive technology, contact Areeb Salim at asalim@jd21.law.harvard.edu.

For more information about University Ombuds contact Mark Patterson at 805-437-3283 or mark.patterson@csuci.edu.

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