All too often conflicts are swept under the rug, and while most situations tend to work themselves out, sometimes they don’t. In these cases, ombudsmen can help people sort through their options.
“Sometimes it’s conflict with another student, sometimes it’s ‘How do I talk to my advisor?'” said Wayne Blair, director of the UNC Ombuds Program and Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner.
The office takes just under 500 cases and meets with around 2,000 people each year. Blair attributes most of the office’s popularity to its strict confidentiality policy.
And following the success of UNC's Ombuds Program, the Town of Chapel Hill decided to open their own office in 2012.
The UNC Ombuds program began in 2005, strictly catering to employees and faculty. It has since changed to reach all members of the UNC community.
“We find that confidentiality is the main reason why people access us, and we are also listed as a confidential resource with the new Title IX policy that was implemented about a year and a half ago," Blair said.
The town's office attributes some of its success in setting up the program to UNC’s involvement, especially because UNC has one of the most highly regarded Ombud offices in the country.
“It stemmed from a vision that our town manager had about the question 'How do we make sure that we are aware of what people’s needs are?'” said Jim Huegerich, one of the original organizers of the Chapel Hill office that was established in July 2012. “For the first couple years, we rolled out to just town employees, and in the three years we’ve been in existence, we’ve seen 90 percent of the town employees."
