BY JAMES J. LIDINGTON

To study conflict resolution and diversity issues, one would be hard-pressed to find a better setting than Jill Jurgens' class found itself in this summer.

Jurgens, assistant professor of educational leadership and counseling, led a group of six students on a study abroad program to Ireland in early July. The group spent five of its 15 days in Northern Ireland and the remainder in Ireland, and saw many signs of "The Troubles."

Northern Ireland has been wracked by religious and social unrest dating back hundreds of years. Major militias currently are observing a cease-fire after years of sectarian and political conflict, while politicians try to seal a lasting peace. However, splinter Protestant and Catholic groups have launched sporadic attacks in recent months to raise political tension and wound the recent pact, signed to end the violence that has claimed 3,600 lives over the last three decades.

By design, the trip was during Northern Ireland's "Marching Season."

"That's a time when if there are going to be riots, it'll be then," Jurgens said. "They brought in 17,000 British troops. A 19-year-old Catholic boy was killed while we were there. One night, we heard gunfire around midnight. You'd see the troops around."

But at no time did the group feel in danger, she said, even though Irish passengers on the train to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, wondered aloud why the Americans would want to travel to the north.

The students were there to study the way Irish officials are handling the countries' diverse populations and settling disputes, which in many cases are long-running. According to Jurgens, officials have established a mediation network in the north, promoting third-party mediation. The network - a group of men and women from the Catholic and Protestant faiths _ supports creative responses to problems. As part of their mission, they spread out and go to specific areas to respond to the conflicts.

The class met with some of the mediators and was given a tour of the Northern Ireland Assembly. They also met people who had been beaten as a result of the conflicts. The program proved moving for Jurgens and her students.

"I think they were surprised at how it's one thing to read about it, but it's another to be there," Jurgens said. "It's very sad. A lot of them were very moved by the troubles and what the people in Northern Ireland go through on a daily basis.

"I felt it was much worse [than what I had read beforehand], but I can't imagine a better environment for individuals to study about cultural conflict and to study ways to work through those conflicts."

They found Belfast to be virtually deserted during the Marching Season, its residents having fled the city temporarily.

"It touched a lot of us when you see the kids raised in segregated neighborhoods. They have no contact with the other kids," Jurgens said. The city is divided by a wall, and Protestants and Catholics largely keep to their respective neighborhoods for their jobs, schools and homes, she noted.

Despite the unrest, Jurgens said she was pleased with the trip and looks forward to returning to Ireland next summer with a similar program.

"I was very impressed. It's a beautiful country and the people were so gracious to the entire group," she said. "I just think they love Americans. They treated us so well and were very accommodating."