Susskind And Cruikshank Summary

Susskind and Cruikshank discuss the role of the mediator as someone who provides assistance to any given situation as a nonpartisan convenor. The role of the mediator is therefore to create a joint problem solving approach that delves into finding a solution or the “bottom line” to two parties as an intermediary and a spokesperson. This works especially well in groups where there is a perceived imbalance of power and reassures those who are anxious that their voices will be heard and information will be shared. In my last journal entry I spoke to the preservation department town hall meeting that was initiated by the students who had felt that they were not receiving the information that they were initially promised and had assumed they would when starting the degree. While many other prevalent issues were on the table, the role of Joe Tripodi, the Associate Director of Student Affairs, was crucial in understanding the positive

This was especially necessary as one of the key issues that the students were feeling were a disconnect from faculty and staff and a dissatisfaction with the lack of organization in a professional degree program. While these are issues that are not necessarily difficult to put forward, students felt that once they attempted to communicate this to the university staff it was quickly shut down and misjudged. In some cases, the reaction of university staff was condescending and unjustified, an issue that was also presented in the student group discussions. Joe’s role as a mediator created a necessary neutral body to convey the information to both parties involved. It was also necessary for him to not be directly involved with either of the parties and therefore lacked any deep understanding of the issues at hand. This allowed him to create an unbiased environment to rely the information to each party as it were