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Mission

We collaborate with partners to facilitate civic responsibility and student development in order to provide opportunities for the cultivation and restoration of the university community.

Philosophy

The Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices approaches student conduct from an educational, developmental and restorative perspective.  We strive to engage students in a fair and equitable process in order to foster a safe learning environment for the entire university community. Our primary concerns are the safety of the university community and the development of students.  However, there are some times when the safety of the community or an individual student must take precedence over their needs or developmental approach.

We believe that individual behaviors do not represent an individual as a whole.  We believe that behaviors can have positive and negative impacts on multiple parties and communities.  We also believe that while individuals must take responsibility for these behaviors, it is possible to change behavior and to learn from mistakes.  In dialogue with students, we strive to illuminate and explore the nature of any harms that have been caused to create a better understanding of the impact behavior can have on one’s self or the community. We strive to motivate students to change their behavior to have more positive impacts and fewer negative impacts. 

When determining possible sanctions a student may have as a result of their behavior we consider not only the particular incident for which the charge was placed, but also the overall needs of the individual student. A student’s need for the benefit provided by a particular sanction is not necessarily dependent on their behavior in a particular instance but on the totality of their experience. Although we place a high value on the importance of consistency in our process, we also recognize that every situation and every person is different and sometimes reflect that through our sanctioning. Our sanctions are designed to be educational in nature and based on current theory, best practices, and relevant assessment. Ultimately, we hope to engage in a relationship with students in order to turn negative incidents into opportunities for positive growth.

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