A Facilitated Dialogue is a voluntary and private process where a multipartial facilitator helps two or more students or groups navigate and resolve a conflict peacefully. This process helps parties overcome communicative barriers and engage in conversation regarding issues of mutual interest or concern.
Involved Parties
- Facilitator - trained administrator who facilitates the process
- Involved Party - the individual(s) or group(s) participating in the process
Guidelines
- Participation is voluntary and all involved parties must have a sincere desire to resolve the conflict.
- The Facilitated Dialogue process is used for incidents which do not involve behavior that violates a specific University policy.
- The University will not pressure or compel any party to participate in any form of Facilitated Dialogue.
- Any party may withdraw from the Facilitate Dialogue Process at any time.
- Information obtained through Facilitated Dialogue will be kept private except when otherwise required by the University.
Process
Planning Meeting
Involved students will meet one on one with a Facilitator to discuss the conflict as well as the Facilitated Dialogue process. If either the student or Facilitator determines that a Facilitated Dialogue may not be appropriate, the student may choose to participate in Conflict Coaching as an alternative.
Facilitated Dialogue Meeting
At a mutually agreed upon time, the Facilitated Dialogue Meeting will take place with all involved parties. During the meeting, all parties have the opportunity to share their perspectives on the conflict and what they would like to see happen moving forward. The Facilitator will help to guide the dialogue with the goal of helping all parties to better understand one another and move towards a resolution of the conflict.
The typical resolution format for a Facilitated Dialogue is a synchronous, in-person or virtual meeting. The Facilitator may explore other meeting formats based on the nature of the case as well as the requests of the involved parties. If desired by all involved parties, the Facilitator can help the involved students to draft a Facilitated Dialogue Agreement as a resolution to their conflict at the conclusion of the Facilitated Dialogue. The drafting of this resolution is not required through the Facilitated Dialogue process and the University takes no further action as a result of a student failing to hold up their portion of a Facilitated Dialogue Agreement.
