Founder
Welcome to the SMS Web Site. Hopefully, this site can be a valuable resource for you -- not only for information about the program at the University of Michigan, but as a gateway to the field of mediation itself.
Mediation is such a wonderful problem-solving process, perhaps because at its root is simplicity and common sense. In a mediation, no one worries about information being admissible or inadmissible, the focal point is the problem, and how to solve it. While many more complicated and time-consuming processes focus on the past, mediation focuses on the future. The mindset during a mediation should be: Here we are. Here is how we got to this point. Now where are we going?
Mediation has been helping people solve disputes for centuries, and will persevere for longer because of its strongest asset: it works. From national security issues to disputes over teenage curfews, mediators help parties resolve issues that plague their lives.
On the university level, SMS at the University of Michigan is one of over a hundred fast-growing college-based mediation programs in the United States. The many new programs born each year are inspiring, but the pace still needs to increase. With a healthy and proactive university-based mediation program, the momentum toward peaceful relationships is able to spread into the community's school system, public justice system, and even its lifestyle. Just as violence and hate are contagious, so too are peace and hope. University of Michigan Student Mediation Services are proud to be a part of the growing movement toward peaceful relationships, and the hope for a better world.
Yours,
Founder, Student Mediation Services