Advertisement

University Chooses Not To Use Famed Mediation Professors With PSLM

No one has called Harvard Law School (HLS) professor emeritus Roger D. Fisher `43 about the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) standoff in the Yard.

But if they did, he would have a lot to say.

The author of the national best-selling book Getting to Yes which explains a process of negotiating in which both sides "win," Fisher has advised and mediated many pivotal international disputes.

Advertisement

Fisher brokered a settlement between Egypt and Israel over the Sinai Peninsula, conducted negotiations workshops with both the African National Congress and President deKlerk's cabinet in South Africa, helped deal with the American hostage situation in Iran in 1980, and ended a decades long conflict over a disputed border between Peru and Ecuador.

After all this, dealing with a PSLM sit-in in Harvard Yard shouldn't seem too daunting.

But so far, Fisher has stayed out of the fray-not because he doesn't want to be involved, but because no one has asked him for help.

"[Fisher] is retired," says Bruce M. Patton`77, the deputy director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that helps mediate both local and international conflicts. "People may not look to him the same way they did 10 years ago even though he's still capable."

When it comes to conflicts like the one currently embroiling the College, Fisher knows what he is talking about.

Recommended Articles

Advertisement