NCJ Number
101480
Date Published
1986
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Interviews with 20 institutions of higher education who used mediation or adjudication to resolve disputes between students and faculty or administrators provide information on key procedures in successful dispute resolution and the impact of such processes on university policies and the quality of student life.
Abstract
Institutions were chosen from a 1981 study on Universities' response to developing internal review and dispute resolution procedures. They represented a cross section of public and private, large and small schools, and 13 emphasized mediation while 7 emphasized adjudication (a fact-finding hearing that results in an imposed solution). Information from interviews with school officials revealed four types of intervention or third-party assistance used when students could not solve disputes informally: referral to an appropriate office, required mediation, required adjudication, and mediation before voluntary adjudication. The report discusses the organizational placement of the dispute resolution mechanism and the roles of mediators and grievance panels. It concludes that mediation has fewer problems with noncompliance, fosters better internal dispute resolution and collegial relationships between parties, and is more likely to promote long-term beneficial changes in policies and rules than adjudication. Charts.