1. Title of Conflict: Faculty-Student Conflict: Sexual Harassment??

2. Dates of Mediation Sessions: March 19, 2008.

3. Description of the Disputants:

Valerie - Valerie is a student at The University of Massachusetts. She is currently enrolled in

Professor Peterson’s class. Valerie is concerned because she feels that Professor Peterson has been coming onto her and making inappropriate comments. Played by Scott Cimarusti

Professor Peterson - Professor Peterson is a highly respected professor at the University of Massachusetts. Professor Peterson is being accused of making inappropriate comments to a student. Played by Pam Olivito

Pat Urbane - Mediator Played by Brett Moore

4. 1^st Disputant’s Story - Valerie is taking Professor Peterson’s class and feels that he has been overly friendly and has crossed the line in the student teacher relationship. She is concerned because it is not the first time that Professor Peterson has been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

5. Clarifying Questions - Professor Peterson asked Valerie what were some specific examples of what he had done because he thought he was being friendly. Valerie did not give specific examples, but said it was just an overall feeling that she gets from him. Prof. Peterson also commented that he wasn’t sure how to act around students anymore.

6. 2^nd Disputant’s Story - Prof. Peterson wants the issue resolved because it is affecting his reputation as a highly regarded professor. He feels that he used to be able to compliment female students, but now feels that they take it as an insult. He is confused on what is crossing the line with this generation of students. Prof. Peterson also stated that he gives lots of help, but he does this for both male and female students. He also brought up the issue of Monica who was the student who had previously accused him of sexual harassment. He assured us that it was a misunderstanding and that it did get heated, but he had never planned on using the threats against her.

7. Clarifying Questions - Valerie asked several questions about Monica.

8. Solutions - Valerie wanted to be judged on her academics and performance and not her looks or what she wore. Professor Peterson stated that he was supposed to receive sexual harassment training, but had not been given the opportunity. He wants to pursue this to help get his reputation back. He also would like to have Valerie work with a T.A. or a tutor instead of getting extra help from him.

9. Resolution Package - Both Valerie and Professor Peterson agreed to the following: Valerie would not work one on one with Prof. Peterson and would see a T.A. or Tutor. Prof. Peterson agreed to take classes in sexual harassment and sensitivity so he would be more in tune with the women of today. Valerie also felt that she could say positive things to other students about Prof. Peterson once he kept up his part of the bargain. This way he could begin getting his reputation back.

10. Narrative Critique - The overall mediation went really smoothly. Both Pam and Scott did a very nice job. They were creative and agreeable in their storyline. I really didn’t think we had any problems. I liked the audio format as opposed to the text format. I felt the text was hard to follow and it was too slow. It was hard to get things flowing and it took too long to respond. The only thing I would change is I would watch the video first. I looked at the page multiple times and never saw the link. After taking a few minutes out of our mediation to watch it helped immensely. I would suggest that next time underlining the link or make it darker so it is easier to see.