A person who agrees to serve as mediator between two factions at the

A person who agrees to serve as mediator between two factions at the request of both abandons, by so agreeing, the right later to take sides. To take sides at a later point would be to suggest that the earlier presumptive impartiality was a sham.

The passage emphasizes which of the following points about mediators?


A. They should try to form no opinions of their own about any issue that is related to the dispute.

B. They should not agree to serve unless they are committed to maintaining a stance of impartiality.

C. They should not agree to serve unless they are equally acceptable to all parties to a dispute.

D. They should feel free to take sides in the dispute right from the start, provided that they make their biases publicly known.

E. They should reserve the right to abandon their impartiality so as not to be open to the charge of having been deceitful.