Resolution Pathways

Every conflict and situation that emerges has a unique set of issues and a different context.  By developing multiple pathways to resolve these challenges, we have more tools to fit the needs of each situation.

Our seven Resolution Pathways could apply to you and your needs in the following ways:

• Conflict Coaching - If you want advice from a trusted third party on ways to resolve the conflict, then a Resolution Coordinator could help you build techniques to resolve conflict in an amicable way.
• Facilitated Dialogue - If two parties want a trusted third party to help have a conversation to reach greater understanding, then a Resolution Coordinator could facilitate this.
• Mediation - If two parties in a conflict want to reach an agreement, a Resolution Coordinator can help facilitate this process.
• Restorative Justice Practices - If a party has been harmed by the actions of another, a Resolution Coordinator can facilitate a conversation between the involved parties to develop a plan wherein the person(s) at fault can remedy the harm done to the harmed party and the community.
• Shuttle Diplomacy - If two parties in a conflict need to have a resolution, but do not want to interact, a Resolution Coordinator can meet with both parties separately, moving between them, until a mutually satisfactory resolution can be reached.
• Agreed Resolution - When there may have been misconduct, the involved student can meet with a Resolution Coordinator to collaboratively develop a plan to resolve the situation.
• Formal Adjudication - When there may have been misconduct, a Conduct Authority may schedule a hearing, wherein the involved student can present their perspective, and the Conduct Authority decides the student’s responsibility and assigns outcomes.

The first six of these methods are informal, and you can learn more on our “Informal Pathways” page. We also have several methods for Formal Adjudication, which you can learn more about on the “Formal Pathways” page.

To learn more about conflict resolution strategies, we recommend you look into the book Reframing Campus Conflict, edited by Jennifer Meyer Schrage and Nancy Geist Giacomini, which is centered around nine types of conflict management. At Lewis & Clark, we use this example as a frame to think about our own conflicts, whether they are between peers or between a student and the community.