SEXUAL HARASSMENT: Independence necessary for office to work
September 4, 2008 by HAYLEY PETERSON
Filed under News
Since the University decided to save budget money by asking faculty members to serve as ombudspersons, administrators must put extra effort into ensuring independent judgment on harassment cases, professors said.
“I appreciate the fact that the administration was responsive to the request of the university community,” Janet Frick, associate professor of psychology, said.
Frick led an online petition for the ombudspersons office after The Red & Black published a series of stories spring semester detailing professors who had been accused of sexual harassment.
To operate well, Frick said the administration needs to adequately publicize the office to ensure they are “without divided loyalties.”
To protect the ombudspersons’ independence, appropriate training is vital, Patricia Richards, associate professor of sociology, said.
“The ombuds stand to be an enormously important resource for us,” Richards said. “It would be a shame if it ended up being marginalized because of budgetary and political considerations.”
Faculty from other universities also stressed the importance of the ombudspersons’ independence.
“One of the key tenants of being an ombudsman is that you remain independent,” Brad Holland, a University of Virginia ombudsperson, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
Holland worked for UVA’s Equal Opportunity Program for one year when he was asked to be the first ombudsperson in 1997.
“It was good timing because I was familiar with the community and how the University functioned,” Holland said. “But I was new enough that people from both sides could trust me.”
Holland is the only ombudsperson at UVA, but he said if the administration had to hire again, he thinks they would consider candidates both inside and outside the school.
“(Ombudspersons) can’t be seen as extensions of the power structure,” Luis Piñero, a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant vice provost for workforce equity and diversity, said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“If they are not perceived as independent, people may not seek them out. That does not mean that the office will be obsolete, but if it is not structured and supported, it will not reach its potential.”
To achieve a hybrid of people who know the community but are not in a position to have their independence compromised, the University of Wisconsin-Madison hires retired faculty to work as ombudspersons.
“There is a strong benefit that persons coming into the organization have contacts that may be helpful, know the structure, and have worked with administrators and others in the position to bring about change,” he said. “Retired people are not employed by a department that might be the one they need to investigate.”
“Retired faculty … are already familiar with the ins and outs of the university system,” Richards wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. “And they may be able to operate with more independence because in a sense they are more protected from retaliation than are people with other job duties with the University.”
Richards said she was worried about whether the new ombudspersons would be “expected to tackle the ombuds duties along with their previous job duties.”
Shay Davis Little, the ombudswoman for students at the University, said Tuesday she will maintain her current responsibilities as she adds the role of representative to her repertoire.
Piñero said the job of ombudsperson at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is regarded as a part-time job, so taking on both duties may not be an issue. He did mention, however, that because UWM’s ombudspersons are retired, they do not hold other jobs simultaneously.
Frick said she hopes the office can serve the University community in dealing with issues beyond sexual harassment and discrimination.
“Traditionally, ombudspeople have served as sort of a liaison for a variety of issues,” she said. “Ombuds could be someone you can go to for objectivity.”
