This Class Is Bargain

TRY TO COME UP with a better class project than this one. Last spring, the students in the Environmental Studies course "Resolution of Land Use and Resource Issues" were given an assignment: to apply conflict resolution theory to a real-live conflict over resources. The class studied an international controversy surrounding a proposed massive hydroelectric project in the James Bay area of northern Quebec, a plan that pits the government-backed Hydro Quebec corporation against environmentalists, native Americans, and other regional residents. After interviews with all parties and about 2,000 pages of reading, the class collaborated on an extensive paper that includes recommendations for mediating the conflicts outside the courtroom. These include outlines for informal workshops between disputants, advice for coordinating research, and methods for negotiating. Katie Stiff '93 edited the paper over the summer, and the group plans to distribute it to the various parties this fall. The hoped-for outcome: a conference at Dartmouth attended by the interested parties.

The course was developed by the Environmental Studies Program and Dartmouth's Institute on Canada and the United States, and the Canadian Embassy provided funding. Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Jack Shepherd cotaught the class with Adjunct Professor of Policy and Environmental Studies Jonathan Brownell. Explains Shepherd: "Sometimes it helps to have an uninvolved, somewhat naive observer step into a conflict situation."