Woodbury College Announces Partnership with
Beijing Environmental Organization and Prominent Chinese Law School
(MONTPELIER, Vt.) -- Woodbury College President Larry Mandell announced today that the college will develop a curriculum to train approximately 40 legal professionals at Beijings Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims. Woodbury College has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Beijing's Chinese University of Politics and Law (CUPL) to create exchange programs and joint degrees in law and mediation.
The memorandum, signed by President Mandell and Wang Weigo, CUPL's Assistant President, also includes a commitment from both schools to support the creation of a Sino-American Research Center on Mediation Law and Practice.
These partnerships are the result of a four-person delegation to China led by Mandell in early May. Mandell said, "Woodbury's trip to China exceeded our expectations and created an extraordinary opportunity to be the first organization to develop extensive mediation education and training in China. We have the best possible partner in the Center's Director, Wang Canfa; the unmet need is great; and the central government of China has declared its commitment to incorporating mediation into the legal system."
The Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (the Center) was founded in 1998 to protect the rights of pollution victims, conduct research in environmental law, organize domestic and international exchanges, and train court and environmental officials. The Center's director, Wang Canfa, is a law professor who has lectured widely in the United States. In 2005, he was one of five winners of the central government's Green China award. The Chicago Tribune declared him one of eleven people poised to make a significant global impact in the twenty-first century, and in 2007, Time Magazine's named him one of the world's 50 "Environmental Heroes."
As a leader in mediation education in the United States, Woodbury is a natural partner for Professor Canfas organization. Woodbury College founded one of the earliest centers for the systematic study of conflict management in the country. In addition to being a valuable regional resource, it is also at the forefront of a new and emerging field nationally. The program's evolution and development has alternatively reflected and influenced mediation and conflict management practice nationally and internationally. Woodbury now offers the country's only regionally-accredited Master of Science degree in Mediation.
In the first phase of this collaboration, Woodbury faculty will teach mediation skills to Chinese judges, lawyers, and advocates. In turn, the newly-trained mediators will provide needed mediation services for pollution victims and industry representatives. Within several years, Woodbury and the Center hope to have developed a sustainable and replicable model wherein Chinese legal professionals and other advocates can continue to train their colleagues in contemporary mediation techniques.
China has a tradition of using intermediaries to help resolve conflicts. Now, however, the Chinese are interested in learning about Western style mediation. Mediation in the West is based on the premise that disputes are most effectively settled when the parties in conflict can work with a neutral mediator - one who does not have a stake in the outcome - to arrive at a mutually agreed upon solution. By partnering with Woodbury, the Center hopes to introduce a more effective dispute resolution process that empowers the parties to create long lasting agreements.
The Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims and the central government would also like to introduce western mediation methods because the Chinese courts do not have the capacity to adequately address the growing needs of pollution victims. The sheer volume of disputes is simply too great. Impartial mediation, therefore, has the potential to emerge as a tremendously helpful tool for injured parties as well as potential defendants.
"Everyone we talked with - professors, lawyers, justices, judges - expressed concern that the court system was incapable of litigating these disputes," Mandell said. "At the highest levels of Chinese society, mediation is being promoted as a primary method for conflict resolution, but unless the mediators are trained, mediation could potentially play an unproductive role in the legal process. The need for training is therefore immediate and real."
At the invitation of Wang Canfa, President Mandell visited the Center, the affiliated law school, the Deputy Chief Justice of China's Civil Supreme Court and other high-ranking legal professionals. The delegation also met with U.S. Embassy staff and program officers at the Beijing offices of the Ford Foundation. All of these meetings supported the project, as they helped to establish good relations with Chinese leaders, generate interest among potential funders, and educate Woodburys delegation about the logistics of student exchanges with China.
The Woodbury delegation consisted of:
Larry Mandell, Woodbury College's President,
Alice Estey, Director of Woodbury's Mediation Program,
Brian Bronfman, President of the Brian Bronfman Foundation,
and Woodbury alumnus
Hong Yue Guo, interpreter and consultant