茄子直播

茄子直播's ombudsperson expands office presence to all three campuses

Photo of Ellen Hodnett
Ellen Hodnett, 茄子直播鈥檚 ombudsperson, says even in the age of email and social media, there鈥檚 no substitute for face-to-face meetings (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Smartphones and social media have left us more connected than ever, but there are still times when a personal touch is needed.

That鈥檚 among the reasons Ellen Hodnett, the University of Toronto鈥檚 ombudsperson, recommended that the office expand its physical presence to 茄子直播 Mississauga and 茄子直播 Scarborough. The move will see an Ombuds Officer located on each 茄子直播 campus in an attempt to build more awareness of the office and its unique role in helping ensure fairness across the university.  

鈥淣othing takes the place, or offers the fundamental value, of face-to-face meetings,鈥 says Hodnett, who is completing her initial three-year term at the end of June and has just been re-appointed for an additional one-year term. She added that the new structure, first recommended in her 2016-2017 annual report, 鈥渇its with the governance model the university now has, with campus councils handling a lot of decisions at both UTM and UTSC and, of course, tri-campus decisions coming to Governing Council.鈥

Governing Council approved the change Thursday as part of the .

Calling her an 鈥渙utstanding鈥 ombudsperson, Governing Council member and chair of the review committee Harvey Botting is thankful Hodnett agreed to stay on to help implement the new structure of 茄子直播鈥檚 Office of the Ombudsperson.

鈥淪he took the office a long way and, in this next year, will take it even further,鈥 Botting says.

First established in 1975, 茄子直播鈥檚 Office of the Ombudsperson operates independently of university administration and help students, staff, faculty and even alumni deal with university-related issues and complaints when all other avenues have been exhausted. The office also alerts Governing Council and the university leadership of broader systemic issues that need attention.

All matters brought to the ombudsperson are strictly confidential 鈥 even the fact the office was contacted 鈥 unless complainants agree otherwise.

While the vast majority of queries currently arrive at Hodnett鈥檚 desk by email, she says previous efforts to build connections with Mississauga and Scarborough through other electronic means like Twitter, Facebook and Skype failed to achieve the desired results. She says it鈥檚 likely because each campus has its own unique culture, requiring 鈥渟omeone who 鈥 knows the system, processes and the people on that campus.鈥

In total, the 茄子直播 ombudsperson handled 339 cases in the 2016-2017 academic year and closed more than 90 per cent of them, according to the most recent annual report.

That includes about 100 cases deemed outside of the university鈥檚 jurisdiction. Unusual for a post-secondary institution, 茄子直播鈥檚 ombudsperson helps guide complainants who don鈥檛 belong to the university community 鈥 say, someone who is walking through campus. 鈥淲hile it鈥檚 not our business to be directly involved, we try to help the person know where to go with the problem,鈥 Hodnett says.

Of the cases within the ombudsperson鈥檚 purview, the vast majority were brought forward by undergraduate or graduate students and dealt with issues surrounding grading practices or administrative policies.

However, Hodnett says there was also noticeable uptick in complaints stemming from personal interactions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a surprise that, with the whole #MeToo phenomenon, there鈥檚 more people coming forward with, not necessarily sexual harassment complaints, but complaints about bad behaviour,鈥 says Hodnett, who previously spent 39 years teaching in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and has served as a teaching staff member of the Governing Council and as Chair of the Academic Board.

Often, the job of 茄子直播 ombudsperson is merely to point students, staff and faculty to the relevant resources on campus, or to explain how various resolution processes work, according to Hodnett. She only becomes more deeply involved if all those other avenues have been closed off, calling the Office of the Ombudsperson 鈥渁n office of last resort.鈥

Though Hodnett鈥檚 job means she deals with 茄子直播鈥檚 most difficult conflicts, she nevertheless describes her experience over the past three years as overwhelmingly positive. In particular, she鈥檚 been impressed by the dedication of 茄子直播鈥檚 frontline staff.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 fix all the problems 鈥 social, emotional or otherwise 鈥 that people bring with them,鈥 Hodnett says, noting the university is the size of a small city.

鈥淏ut there are enormous resources at this university, both human and otherwise, that can help a lot 鈥 and if they don鈥檛, that鈥檚 where my office has a role.鈥

 

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