Conflict Resolution Tools
and Tips for Students
Conflict is perhaps an inevitable part of most students' life,
but it doesn't have to be just a source of tension and distraction.
Conflict can actually provide some good learning opportunities,
and can open up stuck relationships, making it possible for them
to deepen and mature. In this section, we provide links to some
tools and information that might help you make the most of conflict
when it takes center stage in your life.
Roommate Conflict Resolution
Roommate conflicts are at the top of most student's lists in
terms of frequency and potential for annoyance. Carnegie Mellon
University's residential community guide contains some helpful
hints on getting off to a good start with your roommate, and
what to do if things go sour.
No Love
Lost Between You and Your Roommate? is a helpful guide to
resolving roommate disputes, including those that involve more
than just one roommate in the mix. It was developed by the folks
at the Student Legal Assistance office at Northern Illinois University.
The website ResidentAssistant.com provides support for students
working as RA's. Their Roommate
Conflict section includes comments from RA's on approaches
to handling roommate conflict resolution as well as a few sample
handouts to be used before or after a roommate dispute arises.
ResLife.net, another residence life oriented website, provides
an article called Resolving
Roommate Conflicts written by Jeanne Clark, Residence Hall
Director at Quinnipiac College.
Consider these Ten
Tips for Managing Conflict, Tension and Anger by Clare Albright,
Psy.D.
Group Conflicts
It seems that faculty are using group assignments more than ever.
However, as students know, the groups you get are not always well-balanced
or composed of the folks you would pick if you had the choice.
Even when working with friends, conflicts can and will crop up.
A handout on working in groups called Group
Diseases in the Science Classroom: A Reference Guide to Symptoms
and Treatments provides some sage advice about navigating
the group experience.
Puzzled
About Teams is a downloadable pdf handbook for students working
in teams. It was developed by the folks at the Schreyer Institute
for Innovation in Learning at Penn State. It includes a section
specifically on conflict resolution. Warning: clicking the link
starts the pdf download.
General Tips and Advice
This article on Resolving
Conflict in Friendships is an article by Kristin Feenstra
from a site called IAMNEXT that brings a Christian perspective
to social issues facing students.
Tips
for Resolving Conflict from the Student Conflict Resolution
Service at the University of Colorado at Boulder provides some
straightforward steps for talking things through with another
person you are in a conflict with.
Materials Especially for Graduate Students
Graduate students often face conflicts and disagreements with
their advisors. This can be a delicate area for many students,
because the power of the advisor to make life within the department
uncomfortable if things don't go well.
Finding
and Dealing with an Advisor is a short selection that provides
some ways to think about your job finding an advisor and navigating
your relationship with them. It is from Graduate School in the
Computer and Mathematical Sciences: A Survival Manual by Dianne
Prost O'Leary.
The Graduate School at Michigan State University has developed
a program seeking to reduce graduate student and advisor conflicts.
The program, called Setting
Expectations and Resolving Conflicts, seeks to clarify areas
of misunderstanding early, and to help in the setting of reasonable
individual and departmentwide norms of behavior. Included is a
sample video clip (requires RealPlayer to view) used to stimulate
discussion.
The CalTech Ombuds office provides materials on conflict resolution,
including a section on Grad
Student-Advisor Issues. Includes "You and Your Advisor: Establishing
Good Relationships"; "Tips on Resolving Issues Productively" and
"After the Discussion."
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