It’s 2 a.m., and a student wakes up from hearing someone shouting in his residence hall. He peeks out his door to witness his neighbor drunkenly stumbling around, yelling obscenities. Other students open doors, rub their eyes and poke their heads out to see what the commotion is. Angry at being rudely awakened, the first student closes his door and makes a mental note to talk to his resident assistant in the morning.
The above incident is one of many that can occur during college, said Annie Bentz, director of Conflict Resolution Services. Traditionally, when one student complains about the actions of another, the offender must go through a process where the transgression may be resolved with a mediator, such as a complex director, or through a formal judicial process, which is similar to a court trial.
However, through cooperation between the Student Judicial Affairs Program and Conflict Resolution Services, students will be able to choose an alternative means of settling disputes beginning this fall.
Unlike the current student judicial process, where the offenders and “harmed parties” are separated, the Restorative Justice Program aims to reconcile transgressions through a cooperative effort that includes all involved parties, Bentz said.
The first step in the program is for the offender to accept responsibility for his or her behavior and for the disruption he or she caused, Bentz said. The offender also has the opportunity to explain the actions that prompted the grievance. The next step is for all participants — the offender, the “harmed parties” and a student facilitator involved with the program — to agree on an appropriate way to redress the inflicted harm.
“The program focuses less on punishment and more on repairing harm and enhancing a sense of community,” Bentz said, adding that the Restorative Justice Program allows all sides of the incident to talk about the situation and discuss how they were affected.
“This creates the opportunity for people to care about each other again,” Bentz said.
Bentz and Student Judicial Affairs Director Chris Loschiavo worked together to create the Restorative Justice Program at the University. Loschiavo said he and Bentz were inspired to create the program after learning of a successful similar program at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
“The difference between this program and the normal judicial process we have now is that both sides get to talk to each other,” Loschiavo said.
Loschiavo said misunderstandings can arise when students harm others accidentally, or while they are drunk and may not be considerate of others’ feelings.
“It can be very helpful and a relief to find out that there was no maliciousness behind an act,” Loschiavo said.
A hypothetical situation in which the program’s services could be invoked is a case of vandalism in a neighborhood adjacent to the University, explained Kary Meier, office specialist for Conflict Resolution Services. The owner of the vandalized property and other neighborhood residents could talk to the offender and discuss how they were affected by the crime, Meier said. The offender could then explain why he or she committed the vandalism. Finally, the parties and facilitators could come up with an appropriate way to resolve the harm, such as having the offender repair the vandalized property.
Meier has already seen restorative justice techniques at work in juvenile justice programs in Eugene.
“I’ve seen miraculous changes happen when there has been communication between the offender and the people who were harmed,” Meier said, adding that she believed the program would work well at the University.
“For the most part, everyone here wants to learn and this makes it more possible for people to learn from each other,” Meier said.
Both Bentz and Meier said they hope to see more students become involved in the program as facilitators. Bentz said she hopes to recruit student facilitators in the fall.
“This is a great opportunity for students to get involved with the program,” Bentz said.
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