What it is
Trained mediators help two people (or a small group) hear each other and reach their own agreement. It's faster and less adversarial than a formal complaint, and it keeps a working relationship intact — useful for the roommate you'll live with for another six months or the lab you both need to keep using.
What it isn't
Mediators don't investigate, assign blame, or impose an outcome, and participation is never required. If a situation involves a protected-class issue, a threat, or a policy violation, it's routed to the office that handles that — mediation can't substitute for it.
In and around Porter Falls
The Porter Student Help Desk in Founders Union 118 is the single place to start when it is not obvious which office owns a question.
The practical details
Formats: Facilitated conversation, shuttle mediation (the mediator goes between you), or coaching for just one party. Voluntary: Both sides choose to participate; nothing is decided for you, and it's off the record. Not for: Discrimination, harassment, or safety issues — those go to Title IX, the police, or the Dean of Students. Anything time-sensitive — an accommodation, a booking, a deadline — is worth confirming directly before you rely on it, because the specifics here can change from term to term.
If you have a question
The office behind this is Porter Student Help Desk (Founders Union, Room 118). Call (715) 555–0120 or email help@uwporterfalls.edu during the fall and spring terms, or sign in to MyPorter to send a message or book a time. If it turns out another office owns the question, they will route it rather than send you back to the start.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.