In reading and reflecting on the editorial piece Administrative Accountability in Circles written by Jessica Chisolm, we (Kathy Evans and Matt Tibbles) are grateful for the critique of how restorative justice is/is not practiced at EMU. Having students express the dissonance they experience when EMU does not fully live into our expressed values is crucial in helping the EMU community live into what we publicly say we are about…justice and peace.

EMU has a rich history of equipping students to adopt restorative values and practice restorative justice wherever they live. Student Life trains undergraduate students to become Peer Conflict and Restorative Justice Mediators. The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding equips graduate students to become restorative justice practitioners in their home communities across the globe. The Teacher Education Program, both undergrad and graduate, inspires and challenges current and future teachers to co-create restorative cultures in their classrooms and schools. In light of these efforts,  

 it feels reasonable to expect that restorative “circle processes [would] be central to how EMU transforms their own harms, on and off-campus.” But a deeper look into restorative justice at EMU might reveal that EMU has adopted restorative justice similar to other educational institutions.

Many K-12 schools seeking to implement restorative justice, and in particular, circle processes, view these practices as a way to provide alternatives to what is deemed as punitive discipline practices. Schools see restorative justice as a way to address student behavior and not as a holistic approach to transforming school culture. An important point here is that these K-12 schools use restorative circles primarily when students cause harm or break the rules. In these schools, circles are seldom used when harm is done to students by teachers, staff, and administrators. Jessica Chisolm appears to be highlighting this similar experience and approach at EMU. It seems that EMU has applied restorative approaches to student behavior without embracing restorative justice as a way to move toward healing for the whole community. And we need some healing.

In order to move beyond restorative justice as a disciplinary approach, living the core values (respect, dignity, and mutual concern) of restorative justice throughout the entire organization is foundational. Hopkins (2015) lists five core beliefs for organizations to consider in adopting an restorative justice culture. These core beliefs are:

1. Everyone has their own unique perspective on a situation or event and needs an opportunity to express this in order to feel respected, valued, and listened to.
2. What people think at any given moment influences how they feel at that moment, and these feelings inform how they behave.
3. Empathy and consideration for others is crucial to the health and well-being of us all. Everything we do is likely to have an impact on those around us.
4. Our unmet needs drive our behavior.
5. The opportunity to engage in empathic collaborative problem-solving affirms and empowers people.

Let’s think about these core values and beliefs in terms of institutional accountability. Currently, research is being conducted related to historical harms experienced by LGBTQ+ students, staff, and faculty; this research concludes with recommendations for institutional accountability based on a restorative justice framework. Similar research needs to be conducted to understand historical harms experienced by racialized students, staff, and faculty, such as those experienced by the BSA that Jessica mentioned. 

While EMU is an amazing place to work and live, and while EMU supports so much good in the world, it is naive to think that EMU hasn’t caused harm, at the intrapersonal,  interpersonal, and institutional levels. What might it look like for us to engage with restorative justice practices, like Circles, as a way to address some of these harms? How might Circles create spaces for people to name their experiences and find healing? How might restorative justice circles balance some of the power associated with hierarchical organizational structures?

At its core, restorative justice is about sustaining healthy relationships, promoting belonging, repairing harm, and making things as right as possible. The editorial by Jessica Chisholm brings attention to our need to step into a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of restorative justice, one that moves beyond simply addressing student behavior, but one that indeed creates opportunities for mutual accountability, relational healing, and institutional transformation. 

Kathy Evans

Matt Tibbles