The Mediation Process | Center for Conflict Resolution

You initiate the mediation process at the BYU Center for Conflict Resolution by filling out a Request for Mediation form, giving us some essential information and an explanation of the problem in writing. If you have not already agreed to mediate the dispute, you will also be asked to sign an Agreement to Mediate.

Landlords and managers of BYU-contracted housing and BYU student-tenants have already made an agreement in their rental contracts to make a good-faith effort to settle any controversy through mediation before proceeding to arbitration or court. They have a contractual obligation to mediate a dispute when one party makes the request. Mediators hold all communications to them in confidence during the mediation process and will not be a witness for nor against either party in an arbitration hearing or in a court of law.

A caseworker from the Center may try to contact you to understand the problem further. You may contact the other party or the caseworker will try to contact the other party and encourage him or her to agree to try to settle the problem through mediation. The caseworker will present your views to the other party and the views of the other party to you.

Some conflicts will settle simply and quickly. Others take time. The amount of time taken to settle a problem depends on the schedules, the circumstances, and the amount of cooperation of the parties.

At any time during the mediation process you may consult with legal counsel or other persons. However, the persons directly involved in the dispute are expected to speak for themselves unless they have given specific authority to someone else to represent them.

We ask the participants to come together in a mediation conference--a meeting of the parties and the mediator. The caseworker will arrange a time to meet with a mediator. Most mediation conferences will be held in the Wilkinson Student Center, the J. Reuben Clark Law School, or other campus building. Where the parties live long distances or are unable to come to campus, the mediation conference can be conducted by telephone. You should allow at least two hours for the conference. Often two mediators are assigned to conduct a mediation conference.

The parties agree to abide by the Mediation Rules.

At the conference the mediators may speak to both parties jointly or in private. You will have a chance to express your views to the other party. The mediators will help you discuss your disagreement with the other party and will assist you in reaching a settlement that is acceptable to both of you. It is your decision, though, to determine what is an acceptable settlement.