Some examples of our services include:

• Actively listen to your concerns and assist you in developing a set of options
• Provide advice and referrals
• Clarify university and departmental policies and procedures
• Help you contact appropriate parties
• Explain resources such as Student Affairs (e.g., conflict mediation, student advocates, bias response)
• Assist in setting up a direct personal meeting between the parties involved and may assist with mediation if appropriate
• Assist in the preparation of appeals or explanatory letters

No. Ombudspersons have no formal authority to make decisions regarding your concern(s). They will be available to help discuss your situation. They can refer you to other people or offices if they believe your case would benefit from others’ involvement. They are not authorized to accompany you to judicial or academic hearings.

• Please check out the IUB Office of Diversity & Inclusion Resources Page, where resources are organized by who they are designed to help (e.g., undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, faculty).
• Cedric Harris is the Director of Bias Response within Student Affairs. He is a staff member outside of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences who can help graduate students advocate for their rights. His office responds to reports of bias incidents experienced by all students.
• IU has a university-wide mechanism for making anonymous reports through a secure platform called EthicsPoint. You can learn more and make a report here.
• Please see the complete list of IUB student support resources (e.g., Dean of Students Office, Student Advocates, Office of Disability Services, Student Legal Services, and Military Student Services), the target audience of which includes graduate students.
• IU Stop Sexual Violence lists resources (e.g., Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Confidential Victim Advocates) to help you if you experience sexual misconduct. They are exempt from mandatory reporting per IU Policy. To report sexual misconduct, you can choose to report to the campus or local law enforcement if the incident involves violence, the Deputy Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Student Conduct, or the University Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Institutional Equity.
• Mental health resources include the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) for students, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for all IU employees.

With the exception of mandatory reporting requirements, all matters discussed with the ombudspersons remain confidential unless you request otherwise.

Exceptions to this are matters falling under the IU Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy, which ombudspersons are obligated to report to the University Coordinator in a timely manner.

• Cases of sexual misconduct and identified parties will always be reported to the Office of Institutional Equity.
• In cases of discrimination and harassment, ombudspersons will disclose the “minimum necessary” information to meet reporting obligations. This may or may not involve having to provide identifying information.

The principles we follow when making decisions about mandatory reporting are, in order of importance: (1) protecting vulnerable individuals, (2) avoiding imminent harm, (3) respecting autonomous decision-making, and (4) compliance with official regulations and policies. This means that we will do our best to abide by the wishes of the person seeking help.

Another exception is that Indiana state law requires any person who has reason to believe that a child is a victim of child abuse or neglect has an affirmative duty to make an oral report to the appropriate authorities.

All ombudspersons have been elected by other members of the department and have taken the relevant trainings recommended by the Office of Institutional Equity to serve in this role. They are JeanneMarie Heeb, Tom James, Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, Aina Puce, and Linnea Sepe-Forrest.

Feel free to contact any ombudsperson directly if you prefer that over using this Ombudsperson Committee Form. If you want to speak to someone who is not an ombudsperson, the Ombudsperson Committee chairperson will do their best to facilitate a conversation.

Yes, you may use the Anonymous Feedback Form. You may lean toward this route if you want to share feedback of any kind about the department and/or because you don't want anyone to say anything to anyone else. This reporting mechanism is the only way to ensure that your identity is hidden and (in the cases of sexual misconduct, discrimination, or harassment) that no one has the ability to mandatorily report your identity.

However, this option has certain limitations. First and foremost, potential advocates may not be empowered to act on your behalf. Further, if you decide to remain anonymous, we can’t ask follow-up questions to better understand your needs and/or how to prevent similar incidents in the future. Sometimes, without this contextual information, we do not know enough to take action to remedy and/or prevent the situation.

Lastly, we may still be held to mandatory reporting standards, even without your identity. If you identify specific people who engage in behaviors of discrimination, harassment, and/or sexual misconduct, we may be required to report this to the Office of Institutional Equity. Other mandated reporting policies (e.g., child abuse/neglect) also apply to anonymous submissions.

If you meet with us and tell us about a situation covered by the IU Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy, we may be required to report to the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE). Please refer to the subsections above on “What about discussing sensitive issues?” and “Can you let ombudspeople know something anonymously?” for more information about our decision-making processes and mandatory reporting requirements.

Yes, you can absolutely work directly with OIE. If you let us know about sexual misconduct, OIE will be made aware of the identified parties, such that your situation will be handled by OIE rather than anyone in PBS. Whether you are referred to OIE by someone or self-refer, OIE will begin by listening to your description of the situation without officially opening a case file. Depending on the situation, they may or may not open a case file. They are trained to handle all situations sensitively, take your wishes and concerns into consideration, and help you navigate next steps.

Retaliation is prohibited by the IU Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy. With the exception of mandated reporting situations (see above), the ombudsperson you choose to speak with will keep your identity out of any conversations they have with the rest of the Ombudsperson Committee and/or any other parties, unless you permit them to identify you. Your ombudsperson will operate on a “need to know” basis to reduce the number of people involved in attempts to resolve your concern(s), and may consult others (e.g., University Coordinator) using de-identified hypothetical scenarios.

The information will be stored securely within Qualtrics. Only members of the current Ombudsperson Committee have access to this information. Each ombudsperson will only access the “minimum necessary” information to fulfill their responsibilities. However, you should be aware that records may be subpoenaed if relevant to a court case involving IU and/or IU personnel, in which case we would need to comply with official IU guidance. This means that if you want to minimize a “paper trail,” you may consider requesting support from an ombudsperson - either through this form or contacting them directly - to talk in person rather than fully describing the situation on this form.

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