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The Ombuds Office
145 1/2 West Lorain Street
Oberlin, OH 44074
Telephone: (440) 775-6728
Fax: (440) 775-6575
E-mail: ombuds@oberlin.edu

When you don't know where to turn... we can help.

Misunderstanding, miscommunication, and conflict among people are inevitable. Anger and mistrust, however, are not inevitable.

To help resolve conflicts, it sometimes can be useful to involve a neutral party who can present options, devise strategies, and help find solutions.

Oberlin's ombudsperson is an impartial and independent administrator whose central role is to help improve the quality of discourse on campus by providing individuals—primarily students—with the tools to resolve conflicts, solve problems, and communicate more effectively with others.

APPLY TO BE A PART OF
THE SOCIAL JUSTINCE INSTITUTE

As a member of the Oberlin community, you will become part of a culturally, economically, geographically, and racially diverse community. You will discover that interaction with others of widely different backgrounds and experiences fosters the effective, concerned participation in the larger society that is so characteristic of Oberlin.

To foster this interaction, the Oberlin College Dialogue Center (OCDC), under the auspices of the Office of the Ombudsperson, will sponsor a two-day Social Justice Institute on Labor Day weekend, August 31 and September 1, 2008. The OCDC is committed to social justice, constructive dialogue, and community building.

The goal of the institute is to create a cohesive bond among the participants and to integrate them into the Oberlin College community by exploring multicultural issues at Oberlin and in the larger society. This will be accomplished through discussion, role playing, and highly interactive exercises focusing on the debilitating issues of privilege and oppression, classism, heterosexism, racism, and sexism.

Participation is limited to 150 students. Those interested in attending the institute should apply by July 1, 2008.

APPLY NOW

Who Is Oberlin's Ombudsperson?
Yeworkwha Belachew (better known as YB) is a trained mediator and a member of the Ombudsman Association and the Association for Conflict Resolution. YB was appointed the first ombudsperson for Oberlin College in July 2000, after 22 years of service in the Division of Student Life.


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