Students helping students.
That's the idea of the restorative justice program, which pairs trained student facilitators with their conflicted peers.
But junior Taylor Crompton, director of the program, said it's about a lot more than that.
He and the group's leadership team want to strengthen the community.
Crompton said the restorative justice program provides a new solution to the university's community standards process.
"The victims [in community standards' cases] really had no outlet or way to understand how their offenders were affected," Crompton said. "They had no way to have that sort of restorative conversation with the offenders."
In some cases, students can now choose to have those conversations.
That decision initially rests with Meggan Johnston, director of community standards, who passes along any cases she thinks fit the restorative justice model.
If the students involved agree to have their case heard by the restorative justice program, the group holds a pre-conference with victims and offenders.
Then, two student facilitators, faculty advisers, victims, offenders and supporters (other people involved in situation) will meet for a full conference.
"And then from there, as the name implies, restore the justice," Crompton said.
BEGINNINGS
Chelsea Jonason '11 started the restorative justice program in the fall of her senior year.
But the program didn't pick up until last spring, just as she was about to graduate.
Jonason, who was a conflict studies major at DePauw, could not be reached for comment because she is currently teaching English in Slovakia through the U.S. State Department's Fulbright program.
Crompton, who Jonason tapped to get the program up and running in late 2010, said the group provides practical experience for students in line with Jonason's vision.
"It's one of those few outlets I think that student organizations offer that correlates directly with what they're learning in the classroom," Crompton said.
Crompton took over the group for Jonason last spring.
He said the group has handled around five cases over the last year and could see as many as seven cases next semester.
"It depends on what sort of cases happen, it depends on what Meggan [Johnston] gives us," Crompton said. "It depends on what we're comfortable dealing with."
At this time, Crompton said no student has received enough training to handle a case on his or her own.
So far, the program has only dealt with lower level roommate conflicts involving drinking-related problems and property damage.
"Our training is limited," Crompton said. "We try to be cautious about what sort of cases we take."
Rachel Goldberg, a conflict studies professor, oversees the group and helps to determine what cases the students have enough training to handle.
She said the program could take on more difficult cases as the students' skill level increases.
"People just want to see a resolution," Crompton said. "We're not going to take anything on right now that we can't handle. We're not going to take anything on that has violence involved, has any sort of sexual assault.
Lessons in justice
In the beginning, the group tried to train itself. Members researched successful restorative justice programs and brought in professional speakers.
But the students and faculty advisers hit a roadblock in the fall with a case they didn't know how to handle.
They never took the case, but it raised questions.
"What happens often in a case is that you see presenting issues as being simple and when you start looking at it all these other things show up," Goldberg said.
The group has since implemented a 20-hour training requirement for any students interested in facilitating restorative justice consultations.
Students involved last semester already have four hours, but they will need to attend two eight-hour-long Saturday sessions before they can start facilitating.
And newcomers may have to wait until next semester to get the other four hours.
Goldberg, who will be leading the Saturday training sessions, said she wants to teach students basic skills on how to understand the restorative justice process and their capacity as a facilitator to encourage productive conversation.
"Part of what you have to try and do is figure out how to have the skills and ability to create a conversation between people who have suffered a rift and harm such that it's a productive healing conversation and to know what to do if it's not," Goldberg said.
The problem, or a problem, is that there isn't any universal certification for restorative justice.
But Goldberg isn't too worried about that ambiguity.
"There's sort of a known cadre of things you need to know and known ethical things you need to watch out for," she said.
Goldberg also referenced the use of restorative justice in Rwanda, where families of those slain in ethnic violence are sitting down with the people who killed their relatives.
But DePauw's own program presents unique obstacles with its small student population.
The group asks all parties to sign confidentiality agreements and tries to avoid personal ties between student facilitators and the victims or offenders.
Still, Crompton says that closeness isn't necessarily a problem.
"You're going to know people and that's just part of the process," he said. "That's just part of the community at DePauw."