 Volume 3, Number 3, May 2003
Strengthening Undergraduate Mediator Competency via the
National Intercollegiate
Mediation Tournament
by Kenneth Frank
From my point of view as an
educator and mediator, one of the most significant developments
for advancing the understanding of mediation for college and
university students has been the evolution of the National
Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament. Because I had initiated
and coached mock trial teams at two colleges, I was familiar
with the American Mock Trial Association and its development
of mock trial for undergraduate students. However, as the
director of a conflict resolution program, I was also aware
there was no comparable intercollegiate activity for mediation.
Many of my students wanted to practice their mediation skills,
but other than role plays and internship experiences, we had
no place to do so.
So when the first National Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament
was held in Des Moines, Iowa in December of 2000, I encouraged
a team of students to participate. We have since participated
in each of the subsequent tournaments, and when performing
program assessment at the university, I discovered how important
those experiences had been for the students. When asked to
write a one-minute essay on the "peak experience"
during their years as a Conflict Resolution and Legal Studies
major at Brenau University, all students who had participated
in one of the mediation tournaments listed that exercise as
their peak experience. At that point, I was convinced of the
significance of the National Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament
and other invitational mediation tournaments for future mediators.
To understand the development of the National Intercollegiate
Mediation Tournament, it is first necessary to review the
growth of college mock trial and the American Mock Trial Association
*. In 1985, mock trial was
established at the undergraduate college level at Drake University
Law School. Motivation to begin the program was three-fold:
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First, the founders, who were lawyers and members of
the Iowa State Bar Association, wanted to introduce college
students to the legal process and the American judicial
system. It was their feeling that if college students
understood how the legal system worked, they would be
less critical of it and more willing to work within the
system later in life. Students would also have a better
appreciation of lawyers and the functions they serve in
society.
-
Second, it was recognized that mock trial provided excellent
training in critical thinking and the ability to present
orally in a logical and meaningful way.
-
Third, the originators of the program recognized that
our college athletes enjoyed a unique educational experience
in competing in intercollegiate athletics, which was an
important part of their college education. It was thought
that mock trial could offer college students this same
educational experience, and this has been realized. Mock
trial students learn the meaning of competing in a team
environment, the camaraderie and companionship of working
together for a common goal, the joy of winning and the
growth which comes from losing, and the fun of traveling,
meeting and becoming friends with students from other
schools.
Mock trial has become so successful that in the nineteenth
year of the program some 236 colleges and universities from
across the nation fielding over 460 teams (six to eight students
per team), competed, attending 26 invitational tournaments,
17 regional tournaments, and 3 national tournaments. Many
of the students were recognized with Intercollegiate All-American®
honors, just as in college sports.
The success of mock trial led its founders to begin thinking
how to expand the program so that more students with different
interests and profiles might participate at the intercollegiate
level. Thus, the national intercollegiate mediation tournament
was established to expand the scope of intercollegiate education.
Mediation appeals to the student who is more inclined to help
others find peace rather than confront them (as in mock trial),
to find resolution through understanding rather than cross-examination
and impeachment, and to establish a process of healing.
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