The art of fostering communal conversation dates back to the dawn of mankind, when societies worked things out by talking to one another. In the modern era, the conversations are a cornerstone of restorative justice practices.
Studies have made it clear: Black college students are more likely to observe and experience overt racism and experience microaggressions that communicate that they are intellectually inferior or don’t belong.
While those problems are complex, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County has adopted a basic but deceptively challenging way to address them with an ancient practice: people sitting in a circle, having a conversation.
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“The problems and conflicts we’ve created in the modern world are complex, but the solution is actually pretty simple: we need to turn towards one another and talk,” said Jeff Cullen, director of student conduct and community standards at UMBC. “Circles have existed on the community level for thousands of years. I think we just need to get back to our roots.”
A key element in a set of practices collectively known as restorative justice, healing circles are a structured way to address harm and facilitate healing within communities. Led by a trained facilitator, the circles typically consist of trained mediators facilitating a community conversation about a topic or an individual harmed by a conflict or wrongdoing.
No Hierarchies
Sitting in a circle to encourage connection and erase hierarchy, participants — including victims, offenders, and community members — come together to share their experiences, identify or address needs, and lay the groundwork for repair and reconciliation.
Restorative circles at UMBC are most often directed mainly by educators and leaders of on-campus organizations, who are better able to manage conflict and support community members in dealing with the stress and trauma that they may be carrying. But it is equally as crucial for younger community members, especially Black ones, to participate so they have an open forum to express their emotions and have a space to feel heard.
You get to unravel microaggressions, and it kind of helps bridge the gap.
Georgina Nassuna, SOphomore, University of Maryland-baltimore county
The University of Maryland – College Park has also joined in on the effort to implement restorative practices with the Restorative Practices Symposium.
“Everyone Gets a Turn”
Although UMBC has implemented these practices at the school since 2015, Cullen said circles are an effective form of both communication and conflict resolution. “The ancestors were smart — they were on to something,” he says.
Georgina Nassuna, a rising sophomore at UMBC, agrees. She has participated in circles and appreciates how they “give everyone a platform to speak and everyone gets a turn.”
“You hear everyone’s experiences and you get a deeper understanding of how everyone’s experiences impact their lives,” she says. “There are no interrogations. Microaggressions get unraveled.”
Although she’s been at UMBC for just a year, Nassuna has already participated in multiple restorative circles. The engineering major said that she has already seen the benefits in being able to “express your thoughts and emotions” in a supportive, inclusive environment.
Resolving Conflict by Processing Emotions
“The truth is, we all come from different backgrounds,” Nassuna says. “An example of this is being Black. People will see you and automatically say, ‘Oh my God, we literally have a shared experience.’ But the deeper you go, the more you learn about each individual’s unique experience.”
“You get to unravel microaggressions, and it kind of helps bridge the gap.”
Iris Crankfield, a high school educator who graduated from UMBC with a master’s degree, says that restorative practices are even more important today due to the role that the internet plays in students’ lives.
In her classroom, “I am a first-hand witness to a growing instability for young adults to process emotions and resolve conflict effectively,” Crankfield says. Many of her students, she says, “prefer, even when given the chance to collaborate, to work in isolation, aimlessly scrolling through their phones.”
That’s why Crankfield grounds her curriculum in principles of social-emotional learning and classroom community. Without that foundation, she says, students in conflict struggle to “restore relationships in a way that demands discussion, empathy, and taking responsibility.”
A Space for Peacemaking
“Using these strategies from day one of the school year, I have not had to write disciplinary referrals to the office for anything other than plagiarism for years,” Crankfield says. “If students are not in relationship first, there is nothing to restore.”
Cullen’s vision for UMBC is for it to become a space where restorative justice practices are implemented every day.
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“We are not always aware of the ways that we show up, the ways that we impact people, the ways that we may unintentionally hurt another,” Cullen says. “And when we are called out on that, we may not always respond so well.”
Hopefully, the circles “create a safe container for participants to deepen their self-awareness and other-awareness,” she says. “My hope is that circles are a space for peacemaking and a vehicle to bring people back into right relationship with one another.”
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