Conflict Management at the
University of Maine (CMUM)
Conflict Management at The University of Maine (CMUM) is a group of students
and staff on campus that specializes in productive ways of dealing with conflicts.
We offer conflict management education to groups, individuals, or in the classroom
setting. We also provide mediation services as needed to members of the University
of Maine community, through our partnership with the student organization UMaine
Mediators (UMM).
We believe that conflict is not something to be feared, but that it can be
an opportunity for personal growth. While our first reaction to a conflict is
often a “Fight or Flight” response, it is possible to engage a conflict
in a way that will allow all parties involved to be heard and to satisfy their
needs, while respecting and honoring the needs of others. That’s why we’re
here.
CMUM offers tools designed to allow you to:
- Understand how different individuals approach disputes, and the effect
that each approach has on the interaction.
- Learn how different conflict styles can best be used in different situations.
- Find ways to clarify your own underlying needs when a conflict arises.
- Clarify your positions and the interests that underlie those positions.
- Discover areas of common interest within a conflict.
- Gain skills in managing interpersonal conflicts.
To learn more about us, schedule an appointment, or have CMUM provide a presentation
for a course you are instructing, please contact us at 581-2639. Be sure to
leave your name, number and times when you can be reached.
Mediation Services
In partnership with UMaine Mediators, CMUM also offers mediations as a tool
for managing conflicts.
Mediation is a safe, non-adversarial method for persons who are in dispute to
work through their conflict. During mediation, neutral co-mediators facilitate
a conversation between the disputants by listening equally to both sides without
judgment. Mediators are trained to help disputants come to a clearer and more
concise understanding of the issues and to seek mutually agreeable solutions.
Mediation is private and confidential. Participation in mediation is voluntary.
Mediation is not:
- Legal representation.
- Counseling.
- A replacement for the university judicial system.
- A court to determine who is right and who is wrong.
- A place where a problem is solved for you.
UMaine Mediators are students from a cross-section of the campus community
(on- and off-campus, traditional and nontraditional, undergraduate and graduate,
etc.). All mediators have received at least 40 hours of mediation training.
When mediation is requested, co-mediators are selected with every attempt to
match the characteristics of the disputants. Mediators are also screened to
assure their neutrality in relationship to the disputants and the issues.
If you are considering mediation, contact UMaine Mediators at 581-2639 and
please leave your name, telephone number and the best time to be reached.
After you call:
- We will call you within two days.
- We call the other person and set up a meeting with both parties and
two trained mediators.
- You meet with us and the other person at a scheduled time and place
for your mediation.
- The mediators facilitate the conversation and discuss the guidelines
for a safe and fair environment.
- You and the other party tell your stories and hear each other's point
of view.
- The mediators listen and ask questions.
- You both contribute to working out a mutually agreeable solution.
- You both work with the mediators to create a written agreement.
Mediation can help with:
- Roommate, classmate, friend and romantic relationship disputes.
- Ethnic and lifestyle tensions.
- Small group disputes.
- Landlord disputes.
- Other interpersonal conflicts.
Mediation and conflict management services are:
- Free.
- An alternative to other disciplinary actions in many instances.
- Designed to meet students' needs with flexible hours.
