Restorative Practices as an Outcome of the Conduct Process
Restorative practices are outcomes of the conduct process where students reflect on the consequences of their choices for our university community. These outcomes allow students who take personal responsibility for decisions that violate university rules to work together with the people impacted by that rule violation to repair harm and rebuild relationships.
Sanction Options
Different restorative practice sanctions are available to address different circumstances and incidents. These sanctions can be a conference, circle, or an educational coaching session:
- Conferences include both the responsible student and any people impacted by the rule violation. With the help of a facilitator, impacted and responsible parties share statements about how they were affected by the incident and discuss the impact of the responsible party’s decision. The goal is for all parties to be able to hear about the behavioral impact and work together to repair harm.
- Circles are like conferences but used for incidents with more widespread impact and may include community stakeholders.
- Educational coaching sessions are one-on-one meetings with our restorative practices team to explore the violation and impact with deeper reflection around the incident. The goal is to help students identify the source of their conduct violation and discuss tools for prevention.
Sanction Process
Every situation is unique, requiring careful consideration for sanction outcomes. Restorative practice outcomes are determined through a unique step-by-step process.
- Our staff review the incident and meet with the student to determine if restorative practices are appropriate.
- Unlike other sanctions, restorative practices are only included as sanctions if the student agrees to participate.
- After the student agrees, restorative practices are included on the administrative disposition. The sanction will only go forward if the student accepts both the findings and sanctions.
- The student meets with our restorative practices team to determine which process is suitable. Conferences or circles are only possible if the impacted parties agree to participate.
- Our restorative practices staff facilitate the conference, circle, or educational coaching session, including surveys, to conclude the conduct process.
Conferences and Circles
Conference and circle sanctions use questions to address harm and restore relationships. Those questions can include:
Questions for the Responsible Party
- What happened?
- At the time, what were you thinking about?
- What have you thought about since?
- What impact has this had on you?
- Who else has been impacted and in which ways?
- What do you think you could have done differently?
- What needs to happen to make things right?
- How can we rebuild trust?
- Are there things in this community that encourage incidents like this to happen that you would like to see addressed?
Questions for the Harmed or Impacted Party
- What happened?
- What impact did this incident have on you?
- What was the hardest thing about this?
- Is there anything that could be done right now that would help you meet your needs?
- Are there things in this community that encourage incidents like this to happen that you would like to see addressed?
- What would you like to see the other person do to repair harm they have caused you?
For more information about restorative practices in the student conduct process, please email us.