Applying Restorative Justice to Campus Sexual Misconduct

While sexual misconduct on our college and university campuses, both public and private, is dismayingly widespread, it continues to be significantly underreported because most victims perceive that judicial recourse, with its legalistic adversarial approach, fails to address--in a healing way--the harms done to them. Fewer still file formal complaints, many for fear that they may lose agency and that the process may rekindle the trauma of their experience.Recognizing the reality that supermajority of sexual harms in higher education are rarely addressed through established legalistic practices, this book offers a range of alternative approaches based on restorative justice.Starting from the premise “What if we started with the goal of healing in mind”, this book opens with an overview of common restorative practices and accounts of application and lessons learned by practitioners who have implemented a range of restorative justice and alternative-based approaches. Subsequent chapters cover procedural elements, recommendations around documentation. and interventions for individuals who have caused harm through sexual and gender-based misconduct.The book addresses facilitation; the need to pay attention to self, people, and systems, identities, and power dynamics; the considerations for working restoratively with both complainants and respondents; offers cases and adaptable examples of resolution; and concludes with reflections on institutional implementation from the perspectives of administrators, facilitators, and a student survivor. Recognizing there will always be a need for a formal investigatory approach to cases of sexual misconduct, the book offers a wide range of alternative options that empower those who are most directly affected to make the call for themselves. In doing so, it may increase reporting and, furthermore, in offering a healing justice that addresses individual and community needs, may work to reduce sexual misconduct on campus.

Kaaren M. Williamsen is Director of PEAR (Prevention Education, Assistance & Resources) in the Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX Office at the University of Michigan. PEAR is a new 7-person office focused on providing prevention and policy education for faculty and staff, as well as by providing assistance to all 19 schools and colleges as they holistically respond to sexual misconduct in their communities. She has also served as Director of SAPAC (Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center) at the University of Michigan. Prior to U-M, she served as the Title IX Coordinator at Swarthmore College, and was the founding director of the Gender and Sexuality Center at Carleton College, where she also served as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator. Kaaren has masters’ degrees in women’s studies (Minnesota State, Mankato) and counseling and student personnel psychology (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities); she holds a Ph.D. in organizational leadership, policy, and development from the University of Minnesota. She is a co-founder of Campus PRISM (Promoting Restorative Initiatives for Sexual Misconduct) and is a restorative justice facilitator trainer and consultant.

Erik S. Wessel is the Director of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) at the University of Michigan. OSCR is a multi-disciplinary office which employs a spectrum model of restorative resolution pathways for campus community conflict and accountability. It is in this role that he has collaborated on the development and effective implementation of Adaptable Resolution pathways for Sexual and Gender-based misconduct, as well as building effective psychoeducational intervention tools responsive to sexual and gender-based educational needs. Erik holds a Doctor of Education degree in Higher Education Administration from Penn State University with specialization in Counselor Education. Prior to joining the OSCR team in 2015, Erik served as the Director of the Office of Student Conduct at Ferris State University and worked in student conduct and Residence Life at Penn State University.