Business students to learn from Navajo peacemakers

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Navajo Nation Peacemaking Program recently sent five representatives from Window Rock to New Mexico State University to demonstrate their peacemaking process to students on Thursday, April 17.

During the peacemaking process, traditional stories are told, highlighting moral lessons. Large groups of people, including relatives are often involved in the process. This approach to "restorative justice" seeks to repair damaged relationships and restore harmony.

"This is designed to help students experience a different way of viewing conflict situations in the business world and in life," said Grace Ann Rosile, an NMSU management professor. "The point is not to identify who is right and wrong. Instead, the point is to heal divisions within a community while resolving the dispute which caused the disruption."

This visit and demonstration are part of the NMSU Management Department's Digital Pathways project. Digital Pathways uses technology to allow students with two-year degrees from participating institutions to earn certain four-year degrees from NMSU without leaving their community. The program is supported by a grant from the Sloan Foundation.

The demonstration will be videotaped for use in at least two course modules on conflict handling. One module will address conflict handling in the workplace from a business management perspective; the other module will look at dispute resolution from a criminal justice perspective. The group will meet with students throughout the day.

NMSU's American Indian Programs, the Department of Criminal Justice and the College of Extended Learning are assisting with this event.

Peacemaking program details can be found at

http://www.navajocourts.org/index5.htm.

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