Reframing Campus Conflict: Student Conduct Practice Through a Social Justice Lens

How many hate or bias incidents occurred on your campus this past year? Did any students opt out of filing formal charges? How many completed a formal resolution process, and what happened? Would you have liked to have other conflict resolution options?

“This publication is endorsed by ASCA as a collaborative, collegial new lens through which to consider how social justice practices and student conduct administration can come together to inform best practices in conduct and conflict management on college and university campuses."- Tamara J. King, J.D., 2009 President, Association for Student Conduct Administration

Social justice theory provides the lens for expanding our conception of student conduct administration, and the foundation for considering systemic changes in practice – changes that are vital to address the concerns and issues raised by an increasingly diverse student population.

Using this lens, this book casts new light on existing principles and current practices; makes issues of power, privilege and oppression manifest; and offers a vision for expanding resolution practices to empower today’s students to resolve their own conflicts. Complementing the Model Student Disciplinary Code, this book opens up a whole new range of approaches and models that readers can adapt to their institutional circumstances.

Starting from the principle that systems and models are vehicles through which to act on our values, and by focusing on such core values as the commitment to student development, freedom of expression, diversity, accessibility, individual rights and shared responsibilities in a community of learners, the contributors reveal the utility and contemporary relevance of a number of underutilized resolution practices.

Part I provides a framework for transforming student conduct administration using conflict resolution methods and social and restorative justice practices. Part II devotes a chapter to explaining each of the seven “Spectrum Model Pathways” to conflict resolution that form the core of this book: Dialogue, Conflict Coaching, Facilitated Dialogue, Mediation, Restorative Justice Practices, Shuttle Diplomacy, and traditional formal student conduct processes informed by social justice theory. Part III provides practical application tools for the ideas presented in this text, including discussion of change management and assessment, and concludes with an overview of programs from across the country using inclusive conflict resolution methods in student conduct work.

This is a book for anyone concerned about issues of access and justice for all students – regardless of race, sexual orientation, belief, or ability – and seeking to develop and implement restorative and safe practices for their campus community.

Jennifer Meyer Schrage (she/her) is the interim associate vice president for student life at the University of Michigan and is an expert in higher education policy, leadership, and conflict management. She has devoted her career to promoting safe and just campus communities through leading, teaching, developing, and administering innovative institutional policies and practices through a lens of inclusive excellence. Schrage has worked for the University of Michigan since 2006, serving in a variety of senior leadership roles, including as the senior adviser to the vice president and as director for both the International Center and Office of Student Conflict Resolution. Schrage is credited with leading realignment and strategic change on a local and national level, having earned the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) Award for Excellence for significant contributions to the field for her collaborative work with Monita C. Thompson in developing the nationally recognized spectrum model for campus conduct and conflict management. Interviewed by the Chronicle of Higher Education for innovative practices and restorative justice, she has also been invited to speak about her experience and expertise across the country, including invitations from the Association for American Law Schools, Northwestern University, and the ASCA National Conference and Academy. In addition to coediting the first edition of Reframing Campus Conflict (Stylus, 2009), her work is published in About Campus, the Council on Law in Higher Education Student Affairs Law & Policy Quarterly, and ASCA’s Law & Policy Report. Schrage previously taught at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University’s Lodestar Dispute Resolution Center and served as director of Student Judicial Services at Eastern Michigan University. Schrage came to higher education from the practice of law. She earned her law degree at the University of Arizona.

Nancy Geist Giacomini (she/her) is a groundbreaking educator, mediator, and systems consultant whose teaching, publications and advocacy have transformed student conduct and conflict management practice for over three decades. She provides online adjunct graduate instruction, subject matter expertise and doctoral candidate mentoring for institutions including St. Bonaventure University (NY) and Sullivan University (KY) and is a veteran mediator of special education disputes with the Pennsylvania Office for Dispute Resolution. She earned her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Delaware while a conflict resolution program associate in the Institute for Public Administration, where she served as a statewide mediator, and graduate practicum instructor for student affairs practice in higher education. Her career includes over a decade as assistant dean of students at the University of Delaware where she managed the Student Conduct office; piloted the Student Government Mediation program; chaired the Appeals Board, Council for Judicial Affairs, and Sexual Assault Awareness Weeks; and was awarded the Institutional Award for Women’s Equity. Giacomini champions integrated conflict and conduct management initiatives in education. She balances an active conflict management and teaching practice with educational consulting, conflict coaching, and interim student affairs roles in higher education, including an appointment as interim student conduct and Title IX respondent case manager and grievance advisor for Swarthmore College (PA). She is a credentialed expert across conflict coaching; group facilitation; mediation; restorative practices; victim-offender conference facilitation; due process; Title IX; and ombudsperson roles. Giacomini is an award-winning leader in the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) with Board of Director roles culminating in a three-year turn as president. She pioneered the integration of conflict resolution, mediation, restorative justice, and inclusive excellence principles and practices into traditional student conduct professional development programs offered by the association in roles as conference chair, training institute program chair, and faculty. Nancy founded the Community of Practice for Women in Student Conduct, served on the ASCA Foundation Board, was appointed to the Diversity Task Force, and lent expertise at the inaugural Conflict Resolution Strategic Planning Summit. Additional memberships include the International Ombudsman Association, Association for Conflict Resolution, Pennsylvania Council of Mediators, ACPA College Student Educators International, and the Pennsylvania ODR Stakeholder’s Council; she is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Conflict Management (JOCM).