The event 鈥� which includes speakers and interactive arts-based opportunities for reflection, learning and healing 鈥� is Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in EMU鈥檚 Suter Science Center. It is free and open to the public as well as the campus community.

鈥淪exual violence doesn鈥檛 just impact individuals,鈥� Stauffer says. 鈥淚t is a breach of relationship. How can we rebuild community in the face of violence? If we can build toward a healthier definition of community, I think we鈥檒l all feel safer and provide an environment for profound healing.鈥�

Stauffer鈥檚 project, titled 鈥�,鈥� began in 2012 with research among domestic abuse survivors from within communities of homeless women, undocumented Latinas and Mennonite women from Old Order or conservative church communities. Stauffer employed a strengths-based approach, with particular focus on the resilient ways in which women survive in spite of gaps in societal support networks. Her project employed strategies that empowered study participants, integrating storytelling interviews with circle processes and healing arts workshops.

Last spring, MA in biomedicine students were integrated into the project with a about adverse childhood experience. Most of the students are future health care providers, and the experience asked them to reflect on the symptomatic and diagnostic implications of personal narratives as they participated in storytelling, communication activities and playback theater events with co-facilitators, some of whom were domestic abuse survivors.

Stauffer and the planning committee have included some of these same components in the symposium, she says. 鈥淭his is an interdisciplinary event with planning, support and participation coming from various groups and departments across campus,鈥� she added, the representation of which is important to the idea of both community response and support.

Plenary presenters include , assistant professor of restorative justice and peacebuilding at EMU鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and University of Notre Dame doctoral researcher Sheila McCarthy. Turner will speak on 鈥淗ealing in Community鈥� and McCarthy on 鈥淪exual Violence through the Lens of Moral Injury.鈥� , an EMU graduate whose published writing has explored her identity as a survivor of sexual abuse, will share her poetry. Inside Out, a campus theater group which has also participated in other parts of Stauffer鈥檚 multidisciplinary project, will host a session on the innovative and healing art of playback theater.

鈥淭o me, this type of witness moves our peace stance from the rubric of a privatized individual journey to a much more collective awareness of the church鈥檚 role in embodying the challenge to 鈥榮peak truth鈥� to abuses of power,鈥� Stauffer says. 鈥淚t invites us as a community of faith to higher levels of transparency, truth and grace for all parties involved.鈥�

Afternoon breakout sessions in two 90-minute blocks options provide attendees with a variety of options, including:

• 鈥淗ow to Appropriately Respond to Disclosures,鈥� by Mike and Lavonne Yoder of in Milton, Pa.;
• 鈥淏ody Work and Response Mechanisms of Memory Storage and Release,鈥� by , director of EMU鈥檚 (STAR) program;
• 鈥淎rts Approaches to Trauma Recovery,鈥� with Janine Aberg;
• 鈥淚nternational Perspectives on Sexual Violence,鈥� by Diana Tovar Rojas and Myriam Aziz of EMU鈥檚 Center for Justice and Peacebuilding;
• 鈥漊npacking Consent, Unhealthy Relationships and Sexual Assault,鈥� by Chris Ehrhardt and Laurel Winsor of James Madison University鈥檚 (CARE) program;
• 鈥淪afe Church Protocols of Prevention,鈥� by Ross Erb and Jackie Hieber of , which provides sexual assault crisis services and other programs in Harrisonburg;
• 鈥淐ircles of Support and Accountability (COSA),鈥� by Sarah King and Daniel Foxvog;
• 鈥淩estorative Justice Dialogues in Crimes of Severe Violence,鈥� by , restorative justice coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee;
• 鈥淟GBTQ Perspectives on Sexual Violence,鈥� by , assistant professor of education at EMU;
• 鈥淚 Am Your Broken Place: The Grief of Sexual Violence,鈥� by , director of at EMU.

Stauffer says the project has involved 鈥渕any hands coming together.鈥� Members of the faculty and staff planning committee include Mansfield, the STAR director; Comer, director of counseling services; Roger Foster, co-founder of playback theater troupe; , history professor and department chair; Teresa Haase, director of the graduate program in counseling; and , professor of social work. The student-led has also helped to advise and support the symposium, and students are being encouraged to attend.

鈥淗aving students as an integral part of what we鈥檙e doing is key,鈥� Stauffer says. 鈥淭he investment and energy that students bring adds huge value to the whole process.鈥�

A final educative component, designed for EMU faculty and staff and focusing on institutional dynamics, is being planned for this coming fall.

The 鈥淪ilent Violence鈥� project has been funded by a JustPax Fund grant since 2014. focuses on individuals and organizations working for effective change through innovative approaches to societal challenges relating to gender, environmental and/or economic justice. The fund is administered by through the Everence affiliate, Mennonite Foundation. Due to that support, the event is free and open to the public. No pre-registration is required.

鈥淲e sought to bring together a cross-section of restorative justice practitioners, theorists and innovators,鈥� said , co-director of the Zehr Institute and the project鈥檚 leader. 鈥淪ome of the invitees were world-recognized in the restorative justice field, but others were invited to ensure that diverse and often-unheard voices would be represented.鈥�

One-third of the 36 participants were from populations that are under threat socially and economically in their regions of the world. The genders were equally represented. One person was under age 21, though two other young adults had been expected to attend.

Conversing about RJ’s ‘revolutionary intent’

The idea behind the unusual mixture of invitees was to foster provocative conversation about the possibilities for restorative justice (RJ), particularly for addressing structural injustices, said Stauffer.

In the prospectus for the three-year project submitted to the funder, , the organizers wrote: 鈥淥n the social margins, there is growing research and experimentation with RJ as a tool for addressing structural harms and injustices. This project will explore and document these emerging practices in order to recapture the revolutionary intent of RJ.鈥�

The organizers called attention in their prospectus to what they viewed as the danger of RJ settling into a 鈥渟ocial service practice鈥� centering on 鈥渞epair at the micro-interpersonal level.鈥� Instead, they wished to highlight the ways that RJ can 鈥減rovide a coherent framework for transforming macro-social structures that cause harm.鈥�

Aware that many of the 36 attendees at the first consultation would not have prior relationships with each other, the organizers devoted about half of the five days to exercises and facilitated conversations designed to establish trust and a common basis for exploring future possibilities. Senior graduate students at EMU鈥檚 served as facilitators for the process.

Tough questions

First, the attendees prepared a history line of RJ, then they explored identity, power and privilege in the field. On the third day, they embarked on a discussion of best practices.

鈥淲e accepted the challenge of bringing together a highly diverse group, especially given that many of the participants are international leaders in the field, [being] accomplished researchers, authors, practitioners and facilitators in their own right,鈥� Stauffer said.

鈥淭he challenge was heightened because the group grew beyond the original envisioned size of 20 to 25,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e needed to go well beyond 25 to have a true cross-section of voices, but it was difficult to develop coherence among three dozen people with strong opinions, especially in only five days.鈥�

Yet the participants were largely positive in their final evaluations, he said, indicating that they had not regretted investing a workweek in wrestling with each other over tough questions, such as the extent to which RJ should be viewed as a social movement, as opposed to simply a set of restorative practices.

Stauffer did not pretend to be neutral on this last point. In his opening remarks to the group, he referred to the U.S. penal reform movement having been 鈥渃o-opted.鈥� In contrast, he said he hopes RJ continues to grow into a social movement in North America, with the aim of 鈥渢ransforming deep structural conflicts and injustices.鈥� Toward this end, North Americans have much to learn from their international brothers and sisters about 鈥渓arge-scale applications鈥� of RJ, he said.

Agreement on RJ’s core values

For a social movement to be successful, Stauffer told the group, it requires political opportunity, resource mobilization, a framing message, and critical mass (or a 鈥渢ipping point鈥�).

On the last day, in a final small-group presentation, a participant observed that the 36 attendees had largely agreed during the week on RJ鈥檚 core values, but not necessarily on how to practice restorative justice.

This first consultation will be followed next year by a public conference attended by up to 120 people. Next time, Stauffer said, his organizing team will work to create a conference format that moves participants more quickly into discussions on the future of the field, with a view of moving into a research and writing phase in the final year of the project.

Participants in the consultation

The 36 participants were:

1. Aaron Lyons, Fraser Region Community, Justice Initiatives, Canada
2. Ali Gohar, Just Peace Initiatives, Pakistan
3. Barb Toews, University of Washington Tacoma / Designing Justice+Designing Spaces, USA
4. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
5. Brenda E. Morrison, Centre for Restorative Justice, Simon Fraser University, USA
6. Carl Stauffer, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
7. Carolyn Boyes-Watson, Center for Restorative Justice, Suffolk University, USA
8. Catherine Bargen, Restorative Justice Coordinator Crime Prevention and Victim Services Division, Government of British Columbia, Canada
9. Dan Van Ness, Center for Justice and Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International, USA

10. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU and Atlanta (Ga.) consultant, USA
11. Fania Davis, executive director of Restorative Justice for Oakland (Calif.) Youth, USA
12. Cameron Simmons, youth worker with Restorative Justice for Oakland (Calif.) Youth, USA
13. Gerry Johnstone, University of Hull, UK
14. , Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
15. Jeanette Martinez, Circle of Justice LLC, New Mexico, USA
16. Jennifer Graville , Community Conferencing Program, KBF Center for Conflict Resolution (Md.), USA
17. Jodie-Ann (Jodie) Geddes, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
18. Josh Bacon, James Madison University (Va.), USA
19. , 草莓社区
20. Katia Ornelas, Independent Consultant, Mexico
21. , (STAR), EMU
22. Kay Pranis, Circle Trainer, USA
23. Kim Workman, Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Victoria, University of Wellington, New Zealand
24. Linda Kligman, Vice President for Advancement, International Institute for Restorative Practices, USA
25. Lorenn Walker, Hawai鈥檌 Friends of Restorative Justice, USA
26. Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz, Mennonite Central Committee, USA
27. Mark Umbreit, Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking, University of Minnesota, School of Social Work, USA
28. Matthew Hartman, Clackamas County Juvenile Department, Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon, NW Justice Forum, USA
29. Mulanda Jimmy Juma, Africa Peacebuilding Institute, St. Augustine College of South Africa
30. Najla El Mangoush, Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, EMU
31. Robert Yazzie, Chief Justice Emeritus of the Navajo Nation, USA
32. Seth Lennon Weiner, Porticus, New York, USA
33. sujatha baliga, Impact Justice, USA
34. Susan Sharpe, Advisor on Restorative Justice, Center for Social Concerns, University of Notre Dame, USA
35. Theo Gavrielides, The IARS International Institute and the Restorative Justice for All Institute, UK
36. , Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), EMU

The facilitators were led by project manager , and included CJP graduate students Janine Aberg, South Africa; Michael McAndrew, USA; Jordan Michelson, USA; Mikhala Lantz-Simmons, USA; and Ahmed Tarik, Iraq.