Anyone hoping to report a grievance to the university in the past two years would have been directed to an office that no longer exists, and a phone number that is out of service.

The Office of the Ombudsman was closed in August of 2012, but as of Aug. 18, 2014 the university Ombudsman’s Office was still listed on the university’s website under the offices reporting to the chancellor.

The listing linked to a broken web page and a disconnected phone number. Since speaking with university officials regarding the ombudsman’s page, references to the Ombudsman’s Office were removed from the website.

The office was a resource that worked with anyone in the university community who needed a non-partisan, unbiased review of a conflict. Any problem brought to the office was dealt with confidentially. The office had been in existence since 1969.

“On the first of June 2012, I was informed the Chancellor [Rita Cheng] wanted to know how soon we could have the office closed up and shut down,” Donald Bixler, former interim director of the office, said.

University spokesman Rae Goldsmith said positions in the office were eliminated in response to the university’s budget problems.

Judy Rose, the Ombudsman’s Office secretary from 1988 to 2012, said the budget for the office was about $221,000 for fiscal year 2010 and about $145,000 for fiscal year 2012.

Former Director Lynn Connley, who retired in 2010 after working there for 35 years, said cutting the office for budgetary reasons doesn’t add up.

“That excuse doesn’t really hold up when you figure that the budget amount saved was so little,” Connley said. “It was such a drop in the bucket for the university’s budget that it didn’t make sense.”

When the office closed, there were two full-time employees, a director, an office manager, two student workers and two law clerks.

Goldsmith said the staff at the time had either retired or were moving on when the office was removed.

“I was 50 when the office closed and not ready to retire and hadn’t considered moving to a different department,” Rose said.

Bixler said he planned to retire in December of this year. He had worked in the office for 11 years and been interim director the last two years it existed, and was given the option to move to a position in Student Affairs when the office closed.

Once the decision was made to cut the office, Cheng never informed students, faculty and staff of the office’s termination.

“Not much word about our closure was out,” Bixler said. “The chancellor at that time told me that they would send out a notice and explain it. But there never was anything. They just kind of wanted it to go away.”

Goldsmith said the university still has the resources the office provided, but not in one place.

“The function of the Ombudsman’s Office are still here, they’re just organized differently,” she said.

The Dean of Students, Saluki Cares and Labor and Employee Relations all offer the same services once provided by the Ombudsman’s Office, Goldsmith said.

Katherine Shermersheim, interim Dean of Students, said her office is a place for students, faculty and staff to receive assistance and support.

“The Dean of Students’ office … actively partners with the campus community to provide transformational, holistic programs and services that challenge and empower students to learn, serve and succeed,” she said. “We contribute to the mission of the university by offering program, services and support, and by making referrals, all with student learning and success at the core of our work.”

Connley said three separate offices might be able to provide the same services as the office, but would not be able to do so confidentially.

“If other offices within the university could have done what the Ombudsman’s Office did in the same way … then that would have happened a long time ago,” Connley said.

Goldsmith said the Chancellor’s Office is not looking to reinstate the office.

Cheng was unable to be reached for comment by press time.