March 3, 2011 - 4:37pm
OSCR director Jay Wilgus talks office's student services
BY RACHEL BRUSSTAR
At last night’s Michigan Student Assembly meeting, Jay Wilgus, who was named director of the University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution about three months ago, spoke to MSA members about the many services that OSCR has to offer students.
Wilgus talked about ways in which OSCR can improve the campus climate for students by shedding a light on social inequities on campus. Many students have heard of OSCR, Wilgus said, but they don’t really know the broader effect it can have on campus if students employ its resources.
When conflicts are filed with OSCR, Wilgus said the office works to facilitate robust dialogue among the parties and to not favor one side over another.
“They’re there to help and engage in dialogue,” Wilgus said in his address to MSA.
Some of the services that OSCR offers include providing mediators to students who have conflicts on campus and helping them develop methods of resolving conflicts on their own with the assistance of conflict coaching services.
As long as one of the members of a party in a conflict is a student, OSCR can help, Wilgus said. Issues that OSCR handles range from students contesting Minor in Possession charges to cases of sexual assault.
OSCR is also responsible for distributing the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities to University students.
A University alum, Wilgus shared with the MSA members in attendance how he first became involved with issues of social justice as an undergraduate student.
“When I got here, I got turned on by issues of peace and justice,” Wilgus said.
He then shared inspirational quotes from social justice leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
