October is Conflict Resolution Month

October is Conflict Resolution Month in Colorado, and the University of Denver's Conflict Resolution Institute will participate in the month-long event.

Professor Karen Feste, the founder and director of the Conflict Resolution Institute at DU, said that the ultimate goal of the month is to train people in conflict resolution tools with the intention of building a more harmonious society.

“There's so much conflict in the world, whether it's interpersonal, domestic abuse or at the work place or communities or national or international politics,” Feste said. “What people lack are the tools for deescalating. They don't have good tools of negotiation. They have this thing where they think negotiation means weakness. It's just the opposite. That means strength.”

The Josef Korbel School will hold five events in the month of October as part of Conflict Resolution Month. The events include:

• Sectarianization: ISIS, the Syrian Conflict & the Future of the Middle East, 7 p.m., October 1st, Anderson Academic Commons Special Events Room
• Racial Conflict in Ferguson: Conflict Resolution Possibilities, 12 noon, October 8th, Ben Cherrington Hall, Cyber Cafe
• Tension in Ukraine: Conflict Resolution Possibilities, 12 noon, October 15th, Ben Cherrington Hall, Cyber Cafe
• Ethan Casey, Journalist and Author of Alive & Well in Pakistan and Bearing the Bruise: A Life Graced by Haiti on Be Still & Listen, 5 p.m., October 21st, Sie Cheou-Kang Center Room 150
• Conflict Exercise co-hosted with the Abrahamic Initiative and DU Interfaith Advocates, 2-5 p.m., October 26th, DU International House

In recognition of the 10th anniversary of Conflict Resolution Month in Colorado, every conflict resolution supporter is asked to contribute 10 hours to conflict resolution in October. More information about events held throughout the state can be found at http://conflictresolutionmonth.org.

During 2013's Conflict Resolution Month, over 2000 people participated in 30 activities, and more than 550 volunteer hours were reported.

“Negotion does not mean compromise, that's one form of negotiation,” Feste said. “But if you can have mutual arrangements where everyone is satisfied, you're not compromising. It's making the pie bigger, as it were.”

More information about the Korbel School's Conflict Resolution program can be found at https://korbel.du.edu/academics-advising/programs-gr/ma-conflict-resolution.