Press Clippings
University of Maryland Diamondback
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University program mediates for world peace
Musicians pledge to boost funding for campus negotiators
By Kate Campbell
October 25, 2005
For 10 years, university professor John Davies has been a force behind the scenes for peace helping to guide nations on the verge of war and providing a safe space for conflicting factions to work out their differences.
His program, Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding, run by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, brings foreign officials, ambassadors and diplomats to College Park from nations where attempting to compromise with the enemy may be viewed as treason.
This afternoon at 12:30, Davies will speak about the program and introduce vocalists David Wilcox and Nance Pettit in the Stamp Student Union Atrium as they perform selections from their new CD of ancient love poetry set to music. The pair have pledged proceeds from the sales of their CD to the project.
Three years after violence erupted in the capital city of a tiny African state over the contested results of its national election in 1998, a new challenge arose as the past and present collided.
In 2001, Lesothos newly formed democracy hit another snag. The national government was establishing governing councils in the countrys rural areas and met resistance from tribal chieftains accustomed to governing their own territories.
The government wanted to introduce elected local government to replace the chiefs without involving the chiefs, Davies said.
Like other government officials, ambassadors and diplomats from nations around the world, tribal chiefs and newly elected Lesotho officials found a safe place to work out their differences in College Park, first in a room of what is now the Nyumburu Cultural Center, and now in a meeting room in Tydings Hall. Combatants from Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Peru, Ecuador, Sri Lanka and other nations have met with mediators from the university to work out their differences.
Davies and project co-director Edy Kaufman, also a professor, conduct citizens diplomacy, which entails mediating unofficial, nonbinding agreements between clashing parties the factions can use in later negotiating official documents. Davies said this form of mediation has become increasingly important as conflicts arise between guerilla and insurgent factions that dont recognize their opponents as legitimate forces.
For the past seven years, the pair have also conducted six-credit seminars in conflict resolution for students during the summer and winter sessions. While interest has always been strong enough to fill classes with about 20 students, Davies said, the past few years have seen a surge of interest. Davies has been filling classes with 30 students and turning away up to a dozen more who call and ask for a place in the course.
In an exercise where students were assigned to represent India and Pakistan in their long struggle for control of the Kashmir region, senior government and politics major Mark Hiew said Davies demonstrated that good mediation is not always gentle and conciliatory.
[Davies] was very good about listening to each side, but he was very assertive and very strong so he was able to cut people off when they went too far, Hiew said. We learned a lot through [Davies] acting the role of mediator how to stop someone midsentence so they dont carry on and realize when dialogue is going astray so you can say, Hold on, lets reconvene tomorrow.
Davies is currently waiting to hear whether the project will receive a $500,000 government grant to start a program in Israel and Palestine to teach at high schools and universities about nonviolent compromise and mediation to the next generation can begin to peacefully govern themselves.
The story University program mediates for world peace on the front page of yesterdays Diamondback incorrectly stated a program and concert to raise money for the Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding was held Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. It is actually being held today (10/26) at 12:30 p.m. in the Atrium of the Stamp Student Union.
Contact reporter Kate Campbell campbelldbk@gmail.com.
University program mediates for world peace
Musicians pledge to boost funding for campus negotiators
By Kate Campbell
October 25, 2005
For 10 years, university professor John Davies has been a force behind the scenes for peace helping to guide nations on the verge of war and providing a safe space for conflicting factions to work out their differences.
His program, Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding, run by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, brings foreign officials, ambassadors and diplomats to College Park from nations where attempting to compromise with the enemy may be viewed as treason.
This afternoon at 12:30, Davies will speak about the program and introduce vocalists David Wilcox and Nance Pettit in the Stamp Student Union Atrium as they perform selections from their new CD of ancient love poetry set to music. The pair have pledged proceeds from the sales of their CD to the project.
Three years after violence erupted in the capital city of a tiny African state over the contested results of its national election in 1998, a new challenge arose as the past and present collided.
In 2001, Lesothos newly formed democracy hit another snag. The national government was establishing governing councils in the countrys rural areas and met resistance from tribal chieftains accustomed to governing their own territories.
The government wanted to introduce elected local government to replace the chiefs without involving the chiefs, Davies said.
Like other government officials, ambassadors and diplomats from nations around the world, tribal chiefs and newly elected Lesotho officials found a safe place to work out their differences in College Park, first in a room of what is now the Nyumburu Cultural Center, and now in a meeting room in Tydings Hall. Combatants from Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Peru, Ecuador, Sri Lanka and other nations have met with mediators from the university to work out their differences.
Davies and project co-director Edy Kaufman, also a professor, conduct citizens diplomacy, which entails mediating unofficial, nonbinding agreements between clashing parties the factions can use in later negotiating official documents. Davies said this form of mediation has become increasingly important as conflicts arise between guerilla and insurgent factions that dont recognize their opponents as legitimate forces.
For the past seven years, the pair have also conducted six-credit seminars in conflict resolution for students during the summer and winter sessions. While interest has always been strong enough to fill classes with about 20 students, Davies said, the past few years have seen a surge of interest. Davies has been filling classes with 30 students and turning away up to a dozen more who call and ask for a place in the course.
In an exercise where students were assigned to represent India and Pakistan in their long struggle for control of the Kashmir region, senior government and politics major Mark Hiew said Davies demonstrated that good mediation is not always gentle and conciliatory.
[Davies] was very good about listening to each side, but he was very assertive and very strong so he was able to cut people off when they went too far, Hiew said. We learned a lot through [Davies] acting the role of mediator how to stop someone midsentence so they dont carry on and realize when dialogue is going astray so you can say, Hold on, lets reconvene tomorrow.
Davies is currently waiting to hear whether the project will receive a $500,000 government grant to start a program in Israel and Palestine to teach at high schools and universities about nonviolent compromise and mediation to the next generation can begin to peacefully govern themselves.
The story University program mediates for world peace on the front page of yesterdays Diamondback incorrectly stated a program and concert to raise money for the Partners in Conflict and Partners in Peacebuilding was held Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. It is actually being held today (10/26) at 12:30 p.m. in the Atrium of the Stamp Student Union.
Contact reporter Kate Campbell campbelldbk@gmail.com.
