Donald Wang/The Ubyssey

This year UBC’s Ombudsperson Office may not be receiving funding from the AMS, despite a previous verbal agreement. But now the student union is worried that without their contribution, the organization will be too closely linked to the university.

“The AMS has advised the university that they do not have the funds to provide the transfer that was expected this year,” said Janet Teasdale, senior director of Student Development and Services.

“We budgeted a deficit for this year and that did not include any contributions to the Ombuds office. If conditions remain the same, we will not be able to contribute from our general funds without increasing our deficit,” said AMS President Jeremy McElroy.

The Ombuds office was created in 2009, in partnership between the AMS, the Graduate Student Society and the university. The costs of running the office have previously been shared between the three organizations.

“We made a commitment to the university a number of years ago to help establish the office, and paid for it. We were in a much better financial position in 2008, reporting a $1 million contribution from our businesses,” said McElroy in an email to The Ubyssey.

“This year we are expecting closer to $600,000 from our businesses while our costs have increased. We contributed $22,000 [to the Ombuds office] in 2008-09, $32,000 in 2009-10 [and] $42,000 in 2010-11.”

Despite the current inability to provide funds, the AMS wants to keep the Ombuds service at arm’s length from the university.

“We get a seat on the oversight committee, and we don’t want just UBC paying. The Ombuds office is supposed to be a neutral space where people can bring any issues they may have and be treated in a fair and unbiased manner,” McElroy said.

“It is very common practice for an Ombuds office to either be self-funded or independently funded within the organization of which they are a part of.”

Teasdale explained that the Ombuds office will not likely face financial difficulty without the AMS contribution. The main issue is rather how the AMS will continue its involvement with the Ombuds office at UBC.

Teasdale and UBC President Stephen Toope have met with the AMS to negotiate their partnership on behalf of UBC students.

And in regards to the service in its entirety, McElroy emphasized that it is important that the Ombuds office be funded, even if it means funding it independently of the AMS.

Since its inception, the office has grown from a single person office to multiple staff members.

Shirley Nakata, UBC’s ombudsperson for students, said that services provided by the Ombuds office range from investigating student complaints to facilitating conferences that lead to student service excellence. “Our general mandate, in a real nutshell, is to make sure that students are treated fairly by the university so that they can learn, work and live in a fair and respectful environment.”

“The AMS feels that this expansion is necessary and an immense benefit to students. We definitely do not want to see a reduction in these services,” McElroy said.

The AMS had verbally agreed to take this issue to referendum in March 2011 for future funding. However the issue was dropped from the ballot.

Now, AMS plans to take Ombuds funding to referendum again next January, which coincides with their executive elections, according to the executive meeting minutes. The plan is to ask for a $1.25 or $1.50 increase in the AMS fee to go specifically to the Ombuds. If the fee does not pass in January, McElroy suggested that it should be addressed in the U-Pass referendum in October 2012.

“This would mean that at least a portion of the office costs are paid by students, to ensure that there is still that accountability to students,” said McElroy.

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