First week in the CRES Program

Katie D.

August 26, 2010 - 5:47 PM

It's been an amazing first week of school.

Conflict Resolution (CRES) has started with a bang with getting to know the other members of my cohort, holding mandatory meetings, and starting with class. We've all started to get to know each other, and to build a real sense of solidarity and group unity, just in this one week of classes. We've also gotten closer and more comfortable with the faculty and staff in the program. Every day I am more impressed with the administration of this program: although CRES is a new program at the UO and there are the inevitable complications, there is a real sense of passion in the administration. The staff is so concerned with our experience in the program, and the faculty are constantly reaching out to make sure we have what we need to be successful students. Ellen and Kata in the CRES office already knew us by name and picture before we even showed up for the first day of class. They work with us for scheduling, planning, and even the minutia of book purchasing.

I feel like I am entering this new phase of my academic life with more support and care than ever before.

This was our first week of class. Right now, we have only one class: Philosophy of Conflict Resolution with Professor Cheyney Ryan. We meet three days a week for three and a half hours each class. In Cheyney's (he's a first-name-basis kind of professor) class we are learning about the background and philosophy of conflict resolution, and the various ways of applying alternative dispute resolution in various contexts. We are reading legal texts and watching Hollywood films. We are discussing theory and personal stories. It is a perfect introduction to this interdisciplinary field: the beginning taste of the richness of conflict resolution.

Cheyney gave us a frame for understanding conflict resolution that is incredibly helpful to me. He explained that there are two basic ways of understanding it: pragmatic and visionary.

The pragmatic approach is based in the legal history of conflict. Basically, there are certain areas of conflict that are best resolved outside the court room. Issues dealing with human emotion, such as family law, are not well-resolved by a judge, but rather by the participants themselves. Another approach is that the court system is so overwhelmed by small claims that a more expedient and rational way of dealing with small claims is to settle outside of court.

A pragmatic view of this field leads to mediation (family mediation, small claims, business, interpersonal) and a continuing relationship between mediators and the legal system. Basically, the system works but can be improved with some alternative dispute resolution methods.

Visionaries see conflict resolution as a way of re-inventing human interaction to eliminate violence as a way of resolving conflict. This idea comes largely from a religious background, and is associated with the Civil Rights movement, with Gandhi, and with modern movements for peace and social justice.

Visionary individuals would work in restorative justice (working with criminal law), environmental law, and other sweeping reform groups. Visionaries would see the system itself as broken, and that the techniques and ideology of conflict resolution being a new model of human interaction.

I have so much left to learn.

As we discuss questions of history, of individual perspective, and basic theories, I am learning more about myself and about my classmates. Cheyney encourages an introspection uncommon in my experience: that we are integrating the material learned with our own view of society. My fellow CRES students are interested in a huge range of fields, from business mediation to law to environmental policy to education. There is a place for us all within this field. And our class discussions are immeasurably enriched by these exchanges together.

I can't wait to hear more. To read the homework and see myself and my ideas within the pages. To have my views challenged and broadened. To hear Cheyney frame this program, and to see my peers broadening my aspirations.

We're all in this program together. Visionary or pragmatic, regardless of area of interest. We're at the table together, sharing skills and ideas.

It has been an amazing first week. Busy, full, challenging. Just how I like it.