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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1987)
Mediation office ready to intercede in student disputes By Sarah Kitchen Of I be Emerald The Office of Mediation, which was proposed by a University graduate student last term, is now open to handle stu dent disputes. The office, co-sponsored by the ASUO Executive Committee and the University, will operate for a six-month trial period. Sheila Hale, a student in the In terdisciplinary Specialized In dividualized Program, presented the idea to the ASUO in October. Hale had studied and worked with mediation while working on her master’s thesis. Mediation is a problem solving process in which a neutral third party facilitates resolution between conflicting parties, Hale said. The mediation office is able to handle student-to-student disputes such as roommate disagreements and disputes bet ween co-workers or neighbors. It also can handle student faculty disputes. In such a case. EUGENE’S ONLY DISCOUNT PAPER & OFFICE SUPPLY • Stationery and Thesis Papers • Envelopes • Copier Papers • Graphic Arts Supplies • Office Supplies • Plus Computer and D/P Supplies •Computer Paper •Diskettes •Addressing Labels •Ribbons “The cash and carry store with warehouse pricing.” 345-3223 8:00-5:00 Mon-Fri 9:00-1:00 Sat 2641 W. 5th Street the mediation office may be us ed as a first step before a formal grievance is filed. Hale hopes to attract students through two methods. One is self-referral, and the other is by making presentations to pro grams and academic departments. "When a student calls or goes into the Office of Student Ad vocacy they are asked for the nature of their concern and whether or not it involves another student. If it involves another student, they cannot be helped and will be told about our office.” Hale said. A committee, to be appointed by both the ASIJO and the University, will work with Hale on further developing the of fice. The committee is to consist of three students and two members of the administration, said ASUO President Steve Nelson. Hale hopes the committee will give her more ideas that will help increase the options available for the office, she said. “The ideas that come up within the committee will have the backing, the knowledge and the support of at least those peo ple in the committee. For exam ple: If we have a faculty member on the committee who could see that mediation would be very useful at the lowest level of the grievance procedure for academic issues, then that faculty member may be just the spark to make the program grow in that direction,” Hale said. In the future, Hale said she would like to see conflict resolution training so that peo ple can learn to use those skills in their daily lives. This could be narrow, that is, focused on a certain population, or wide and offered for academic credit, she said. “One of my goals is to help people to learn collaborative problem solving.” Hale said. “No change can take place without conflict, and it can be either productive or unproduc tive. and learning how to make conflict productive would be a great contribution to make to a person’s future.” The role of the committee is to work directly with Hale on the pilot program in the hope of developing the program into a regular academic office. Nelson said. The mediation office is to be reviewed during spring term when the decision will be made whether it should be fully fund ed by both the University and the ASUO. Pomfo Continued from Page 1 While busy serving crowds of students in the registration pro cess Friday, employees at Oregon Hall were asked to be on the lookout for anything appear ing or sounding strange, sources said. “We were told to search around our area and look for anything suspicious, and then report it immediately.” said Vicki Wanner, management assistant to Business Affairs Director William McLaughlin, whose office is located in Oregon Hall. “1 personally would have felt more secure having a person here who is trained to search for this sort of thing, but evidently they thought we were qualified.’’ she said. Police later conducted thorough searches for ex plosives in all three buildings, Glenn said. In the 11-and-a-half years Wanner has worked at Oregon Hall, this is the first time she and her co-workers have been asked to look for a bomb, she said. "I figured it was my job to look,” said Eva Abbott, an ad ministrative assistant in the business affairs office in Oregon Hall. “If I had been afraid I would have left. But I didn’t feel very apprehensive at all.” About six bomb threats have been received on campus since fall term began, Glenn said, “no more than the usual amount.” “Over a period of 16 years you learn a lot of these threats come for certain buildings dur ing certain times of the year, like during finals week when a student doesn’t want to take a test,” he said. “It gets to be so routine after a while.” 9Tl S tj°nt*nue<* ^rom PaRe 1 Specifically: •Would tin; delivery of and disclosure of the Athletic Department's policy and drug testing protocol prior to a stu dent athlete's consent to par ticipate in the testing serve as a valid waiver of a student’s rights under the IJ.S. Constitu tion, 14th and Fourth amend ments, and under the Oregon Constitution, Article 1, Section Nine when consent is given before the first practice and first test. •Would informed consent ob American English Institute Department of Linguistics Oral Communication for Academic Purposes UH 18:30-19:00 261 PLC Fee: $150* This course will improve the ability of in ternational students to participate in seminar and class discussions and to com prehend academic lectures. 1 he course is a 3-hour, non-credit course tor a fee* of $150*. The course will meet two evenings each week. Enrollment is limited to 15 students. The course is aim ed at graduate students, but advanced undergraduates may also enroll. To register please come to the first meeting, Thursday, 6:30 PM, in 261 PLC. A detailed description of the course objec tives and enrollment procedures is posted in 241 PLC. If you are unsure whether this course might benefit you, see your academic advisor, or you may contact the AEI testing coordinator, Peggy Dame, at 686-3945 for assistance. * The At.I is a non-profit, self support unit within the Deport ment of Linguistics ond receives no state funds. It operates through tuition and fees collected for its services with all revenue utilized to develop and provide its programs. tained prior to the recruited athlete’s signing an NCAA Let ter of Intent serve as a valid waiver for athletes’ same con stitutional rights when consent is given before the first practice and first test. •Would the same procedure for both recruited and non recruited student athletes be modified to call for mandatory analysis of the urine sample on ly for performance-enhancing drugs (and eliminate the man datory testing of marijuana) serve as a valid waiver for athletes’ same constitutional rights. •Would implementation of the consent-to program in ac cordance with the policy and protocol satisfy procedural due process requirements under the US. Constitution’s 14th Amendment and under the Oregon Constitution, Article 1. Section 10. •Is there a right or a privilege to compete in intercollegiate athletics at an OSSHE institu tion without agreeing to follow procedures and qualifications required of all team members. •Is the denial, suspension or termination of the ability to play/practice for failure to abide by disclosed and consented-to procedures, behaving contrary or acquiring a condition out of compliance from previously disclosed coaching rules or qualifications a denial or revocation of a right or privilege. •Should the University engage in rulemaking under the Oregon APA when it wishes to implement a program of man datory, sometimes randomized, drug testing only for inter collegiate athletes.
