People will do to me what I will allow them to do

If you do not know how to resolve an unpleasant situation, you can turn to her. She is there for you.

Who can contact you? Are you here for both students and staff?

My scope of authority includes both students and staff.

What problems do people most often contact you with?

Is it about the student agenda, interpersonal relationships or inappropriate behaviour? It is the complex of everything you are asking about.

Where can people find you, and how can they contact you?

People can and do contact me via my official email, . We make further arrangements according to availability and needs.

You are a person outside the university environment. Do you see the fact that you have a different perspective as an advantage?

Like any other working environment, the academic environment has its own specifics. If the ombudsman is supposed to deal with individual topics in an unencumbered and unbiased, objective manner, then the fact that I am a person outside the university environment is, of course, not only an advantage but a necessity.

What should one do if one feels that one’s rights have been violated in some way?

It is necessary to say to yourself, “People will do to me what I will allow them to do.” And you should not tolerate it. Then use all the means available to you to help you. Even the ombudsman.

How closely do you cooperate with the Ethics Committee of VSB-TUO? Do you solve some cases together?

Not yet. I have only been in office a short time. But I am planning an official meeting to get to know each other personally and agree on the parameters of cooperation.

I cannot help asking. Some people quite often argue about their rights and their boundaries. Still, we need to take into account that we all have our boundaries set differently. So where do correctness and respect end and disrespect or inappropriate behaviour begin?

How do you actually balance it out? Our rights are officially guaranteed by the Constitution of the Czech Republic, the Labour Code, moral values, and so on. Whenever anyone mistakenly thinks in their own mind that they do not have to respect any of this, they are actually behaving inappropriately and, unfortunately, often immorally (though often not illegally). This is where I see the main role of the ombudsman – the ability to communicate this to such a person and guide them to a different way of behaving and acting.

Text: Ing. Barbora Urbanovská, Mgr. Lada Dittrichová