- Home
- About
- News
- Sports
- Support UTA Radio
- Ask The Experts
- Lend A Hand
- Bashful, Grumpy, and Sleepy
- Campus ATM
- Catch Me If You Can
- Debt Dodgeball
- Laptop Larceny
- Antisocial Media
- Mentoring Methodology
- Manufactured Mistake
- Modem Matriculation
- Condo Calamity
- The Rat Race
- Family Fortune
- Charity Drive
- College Culpability
- I Accuse
- Get on Board
- Blindsided
- To Plumb or Not to Plumb
- Dorm Room Delight
- Privacy Pretense
- Sophomore Servitude
- College Connections
- Loan Leeway
- Career Comeuppance
- Adult Apprentice
- Campus Conflict
- Dream Car
- Mortgage Mania
- Ms Manners
- All Hands On Deck
- E-Book Worm
- Home Work
- Living Large
- Foreign Model
- Soggy Software
- The Goodbye Girl
- Call Security
- Master Mercenary
- Rate of Return
- Good Night, Nurse
- Roll of the Dice
- Foreign Force Majeure
- Shop Around
- Job Jitters
- Switching It Up
- Debt Debate
- Mate Match
- Me and My Baby
- Assistant Adversity
- Robocar
- Environmental Effort
- Fantasy Format
- Investigative Illness
- Amateur Aunt
- Forklift Fugitive
- Ready for Rehab
- Party Prestige
- Casinos, Cannabis, and Careers
- Taking Credit
- Language Barrier
- Media Mistake
- Fraternity Row
- Thinking on Your Feet
- Gender Bender
- Studying for a Test
- Library Lethargy
- Loan Lawsuit
- Searching for Something Special
- Eye-Popping Expenses
- Data’s Dangers
- Teaming Up With Tech
- The Law and the Land
- Richer Regions
- Real World Romance
- Growth and Graduation
- Energy and the Environment
- Brands on the Brain
- Spending on Sports
- Farming Fun
- Anxiety Abroad
- Tangible Technology
- Headaches and Health
- The Science of Sales
- Salvaging Safe Spaces
- Lawsuits and Loved Ones
- Investing Intelligently
- Pills and Protections
- Different Types of Drinking
- Benefits of a Break
- Adventures Abroad
- Built to Last
- Energy Efficiency
- Investing In Yourself
- Back to Back Pain
- Vacation Locations
- Toxic Corporate Cultures
- Dangerous Doctors?
- Organic Options
- New Novelist Seeking Novel Advice
- A Tale of Type 2
- Is Silence All That Golden
- Are You Ready for the SQL
- A Woke Bloke
- Big Project, Big Data
- Rough Road to Recovery
- Introducing Aquamation
- A Medical Approach to Marijuana
- A Guide to Grief: From Funerals to Feelings
- Life, Death, and Memories
- Thinking Machines
- Dangers of Drunk Driving
- Rings and Reasons
- Focus on Finance
- Faith-and-Sobriety
- Tech and Taxes
- Design and Decoration on a Budget
- To Automate or Not to Automate My Investments
- A Different Direction
- Some Worse Than Others
- Artsy Options
- Budding Investments
- Suspicious Sibling Seeks Advice
- When Pets Pass
- Celebrating Friendship
- The Cost of a Clean Room
- Keeping Fantasy Fun
- Irvine Incident
- Advice for An Aspiring Entrepreneur
- When to Call a Lawyer
- Currency Concerns
- Crash Course On Interventions
- A Path Forward for Addicts
- Define and Discuss Modular Mezzanine
- Gambling Growth
- Pets For Patients
- Sports and Spectators
- Crash Course On Sustainable Investing
- Responsible Relationships
- What is Vaping, Really
- How Spaces Make Us Spend
- Define And Discuss Niche Healthcare Topic
- Software and Slot Machines
- Crash Course On San Diego Extracurriculars
- The Busy Person’s Guide to Healthy Eating
- Coding and Careers
- Getting Confident In My Career Choice
- Graduation Gift
- Young People and Vaping
- Real Estate and Rentals
- The Power of Logos
- The State of Prototyping
- Making Ends Meet
- Debating New Versus Used Car
- The Power of Water
- Are Online Degrees Worth Pursuing?
- Copywriting as a Career Choice
- Big Purchases, Small Bank Accounts
- Understanding Economies of Scale
- Supplement Safety
- Healthy Diet, Healthy Life
- Ways to Stay Healthy
- Advancing Careers with Advanced Degrees
- Building a Bustling Web-Based Business
- Capturing the Moment
- Your Past Matters
- Planning a Successful Survey
- Landlording For Dummies
- Aspiring Journalist Seeks Travel Tips
- Side Hustles
- Fashion and Sustainability
- How Engines Work
- Ways to Look Your Best
- The Perfect Gift for That New Special Someone
- Can You Buy Tobacco Online?
- A Fix for Sagging Floors
- Understanding IP Addresses
- Contact Us
Campus Conflict
I'm having a problem with one of my professors. I don’t agree with any of his comments on my reports and he's not interested in my ideas. I am stuck, what can I do?
Your question about student-teacher conflict resonates with all 20M U.S. college students, who empathize with you. We want to help you get along with your professor, but we appreciate your question is deeper and more complex. How are you going to respond to conflict throughout college, in your job, and in your family life? We understand you're in an unpleasant situation, but since you're in college, it's time you learn about conflict resolution.
Many of the principles of conflict resolution in the workplace can also be applied to college. It's even a job requirement for certain positions in the corporate world. Any form of conflict will reduce productivity and create a difficult work or study environment. Conflicts usually involve a difference in opinion, in this case yours and your professor’s.
The first step towards resolving this disagreement is mutual recognition that a problem exists. Is your lecturer aware of your feelings towards his comments on your reports? If he is, as it appears to be, try to set aside a time for you both to discuss the issue. Doing it during a class or just after one has finished is not likely to be fruitful as both of you are rushed. Decide on a mutually agreeable time to meet up for a coffee in a relaxed atmosphere to discuss the issues.
There must be willingness for compromise by one or both of you. By discussing it, you may gain better insight as to why he is commenting in such a manner. There could be reasons that you have yet to consider leading to a possible change of direction on your part. Conversely, if your lecturer spares the time to listen to you, he may take onboard some of your arguments and ideas, compromise is the key to conflict resolution.
There are definitely things you want to avoid when trying to resolve a conflict. An inability to recognize and respond to the things that matter to the other person can make things worse. Failure to compromise or even consider the other viewpoint is also counterproductive, there are two sides to every argument. Completely evading the conflict or confrontation can amplify it and make it fester, leading to further anxiety. Openness and discussion is the way forward. These are the same techniques we use in arbitration and mediation, explains a business lawyer, in order to help our clients avoid litigation.
Whether you agree with his comments or not, you will need to learn a few skills if you want to attempt to resolve the issue amicably. Staying calm and in control of your emotions and behavior can help to communicate your ideas without being intimidating, angry or threatening. These are the skills elementary school children are taught in a Montessori education of constructive and respectful problem-solving options. The same approach is transferrable to dealing with problems at an adult level.
Paying attention to and respecting the opposing viewpoint can also go a long way to creating a mutually agreeable solution.
Take the positives from the situation and learn from the experience whether your professor comes round to your way of thinking or not. Either way, you've gained new skills in conflict resolution which will be of value when you enter the workplace. Diplomacy, assertiveness, empathy and mediation are all required to solve problems between conflicting parties, you have just practiced them all.
Conflict is productive - Patrick Lencioni.
(Nadeem Ghori is President of Webplex, a digital analytics agency).