When graduate students are in a dispute with their peers, faculty or staff, the University does not have a neutral arena for them to settle differences.
As a result, the graduate student government is circulating a dispute resolution survey to determine whether people are satisfied having supervisors sort out conflicts or need an independent method of solving work-related problems.
Graduate student Tim Murrell is chairman of the Graduate and Professional Student Association committee charged with creating the survey and compiling its results.
"The goal of this is just to investigate whether students are happy with the current system or if there is a need for some other system that the GPSA Council could help provide," he said. "It is the committee's goal to have as many graduate students respond to this survey so that we can get the best idea of what they need."
GPSA members decided to explore conflict resolution after the issue was raised by a variety of graduate students who felt that, while the University has a conflict resolution center for faculty and staff, it suffered by not having an independent, neutral forum for students.
"The process for resolving problems that graduate students have is basically non-existent, unless you count what is outlined in the Pathfinder, which is a faculty-driven process," Murrell said. "If disputes are not resolved between the two parties, it is appealed to the department chairperson or supervisor, then the provost and would then go to upper administration. It really doesn't favor student interests."
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Some of the other concerns Murrell's committee has raised include the lengthy nature of the University appeal process and that it does not include techniques such as mediation, negotiation and conflict management.
The survey Murrell's committee generated, which can be found online or in the GPSA office, includes the following eight questions:
l How many times have you used the grievance procedure outlined in the student handbook?
l Since you have been a graduate student at UNM, how many faculty or staff members have you had pressing issues with that you would have considered seeking help solving but did not?
l How many peers at UNM have you had pressing issues with that you would have considered seeking help solving but did not?
l What did you do to resolve the conflicts you had with faculty, staff or other students?
l If you were to have a dispute or conflict with faculty, staff or another student, what would you do?
l Do you have friends who could use help to resolve conflict with faculty, staff or students?
l If a campus office were available to help you confidentially resolve disputes with UNM faculty, staff or students, would you use it?
l Would your friends use a campus office to help confidentially resolve disputes with UNM faculty, staff or students?
The questions are asked in a multiple-choice format, but Murrell does encourage students to provide whatever feedback they feel is pertinent. The survey can be downloaded from www.unm.edu/~gpsa or can be picked up from the GPSA office in Room 124 of the former bookstore north of the art building. Completed surveys can be turned in to the GPSA office or e-mailed to Murrell at landnwater@hotmail.com.
