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Introduction:
Former Community Relations Service Mediator Edward Howden describes how he got control of a very uncontrolled mediation process.
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This rough transcript provides a text alternative to audio. We apologize for occasional errors and unintelligible sections (which are marked with ???).
Enforcing Groundrules
Edward Howden
Former CRS Mediator, San Francisco Office
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[Full Interview]
There was one other intra-tribal scene where a lot of folks were present and it was just not
feasible to limit it to a four or five member team. Actually there were several teams from either
side. There was a clan or family grouping, with history behind it, that was very unhappy for
maybe a couple of generations. Some of the other members of the band insisted on being
present. It wasn't public with press, but there was quite a crowd, and that got messy.
People were standing up shouting, and it became pretty difficult to have any orderly process.
After a time trying to keep it on track, I asked for a recess and spoke with some of the folks. I
explained that we had agreed in advance who the people were who were going to handle this,
and I told them that we were not going to be able to pull it off if it continued like it was going. "I
don't want to tell anybody to go home, I can't tell anybody to go home," I said, " but how about
we convene the original group in such and such a room." So we proceeded on that basis. But
that was one case where it was it couldn't have gone anywhere on the basis on which it had
started.
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