The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 2 - 22

Amy N. Miele * Florence A. Hamrick

Students, faculty, and staff at the University of Minnesota value AIM's educational approach to promoting academic integrity, and the
university recently expanded use of restorative
justice boards to cases involving alcohol possession (Rademacher, 2017; Westbrook, 2017 ).

The mediation process in residence

Combining different restorative justice
practices may also be warranted. In retrospect,
Pitts and Waryold's sanction enhancement
group (1990) illustrates some features consistent with RJ circles and boards. Prospective
group participants were screened during meetings with a Counselor Education Department
faculty member to assess their peer relationships, adjustment to college, and evidence of
interpersonal functioning suitable to interacting effectively with peers and facilitators. The
group facilitators had been trained in working
with student groups, and one facilitator was a
student conduct professional. The experience
aimed to foster students' positive, constructive involvement in their respective residential
community via prompting reflection on the
negative outcomes of prior behavioral choices
and promoting personal responsibility. Although participants anticipated that the facilitators would ultimately "lecture" them, Pitts and
Waryold concluded that "a level of trust had developed between the facilitators and the group
members" (p. 19) that was conducive to the
positive student-level outcomes of the sanction
enhancement group experience.

problem or conflict. The goal of

ADR: Mediation
Another ADR practice found on campuses is
mediation (Goldblum, 2009). Campus-based
mediation emerged during the late 1970s and
early 1980s became popularized in the 1990s
as ADR in general became more prominent

life settings typically involves
a trained mediator guiding two
or more students in resolving a
mediation is to help parties reach a
mutually agreeable resolution and
action plan.

(Warters, 2009). Mediation began as a way
to resolve student matters and was also used
in cases of conflict among faculty and staff
(Rommel & Bailey, 2016; Warters, 2009).
Roughly 250 organized mediation programs
existed on college and university campuses
in 2009 (Warters, 2009), and that number
is growing (Katz & Kovack, 2016). Mediation
is typically used (1) to avoid creation of a disciplinary record for a student and/or (2) as
one element of the sanctions resulting from a
formal adjudication process (Warters, 2009).
The mediation process in residence life
settings typically involves a trained mediator
guiding two or more students in resolving
a problem or conflict. The goal of mediation
is to help parties reach a mutually agreeable
resolution and action plan (Olshak, 2001;
Warters, 2009). The mediator begins the
process by setting ground rules such as treating all participants with respect, allowing any
participant to terminate (even temporarily) the
mediation, refraining from interrupting other
participants, and silencing phones and other

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 2

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