College and university residential life administrators will find Building Campus Community a cost-effective way to provide residential advisors and their supervisors with the skills to effectively engage residents, establish authority and uphold expectations, while providing support and giving voice to resident needs and concerns. Residential staff learn to establish agreed upon behavioral norms, build decorum and facilitate collaborative processes that prevent and resolve conflicts.

Residential directors describe the advantages of restorative practices

RA’s discuss how they use restorative practices to address challenges




As young adults, campus residents and resident advisors function best when they play an active role in managing their own affairs. Building Campus Community teaches resident advisors and their supervisors how to establish an effective community and, when problems arise, to use their authority to reliably achieve positive outcomes.

Through collaborative processes, resident advisors establish norms and build relationships, empowering residents to take active responsibility and build and maintain a cooperative residential environment. Campuses implementing this program reduce formal disciplinary procedures because conflicts are less likely to occur and less likely to escalate.

With a comprehensive implementation model, administration and staff develop a customized plan based on their own goals. Staff are organized into “professional learning groups,” which foster peer learning. IIRP staff provide onsite professional development, follow-up phone consultation and ongoing evaluation of progress.

Once established, the Building Campus Community program is sustained by a cost-effective strategy that develops on-campus training capacity, so that selected residential staff provide professional development for new staff in the future.



Preliminary steps

  • Schedule initial professional development days.
  • Provide phone consultation with residential life leadership and administration.

Three days of onsite professional development instruction for all resident advisors and related staff

  • Introduction to Restorative Practices in Residential Life: Basic restorative concepts and skills.
  • Using Circles Effectively: How to use circles for a broad range of residential-life purposes.
  • Restorative Conferencing: How to facilitate structured meetings that effectively respond to wrongdoing.

Monthly phone consultation and support for one year

  • Hold monthly in-depth phone calls with resident advisors, staff and administration as needed.
  • Provide ongoing assistance and consulting with implementation progress.
  • Focus on deepening implementation of restorative practices to 100% of staff.

3-day Training of Trainers for up to 12 staff

  • Select staff to be trained to provide restorative practices professional development for new hires.
  • License and train those staff to utilize IIRP’s proprietary materials, presentations, “scripts” and videos.

Resources provided

  • Building Campus Community handbook for all residence-life staff.
  • Restorative Questions Cards and IIRP Globe “talking piece” for all staff.

Supplemental opportunities

  • Optional graduate courses available for staff.


 

 

Download program description (PDF) »

 
Read an article about restorative practices at the University of Vermont »
 

Webinars

Learn about the IIRP Building Campus Community project in this 90-minute webinar.
Cost: $20

Scheduled dates:

 

Buy the Book

Buy now at IIRP Bookstore »

Book cover: Building Campus Community: Restorative Practices in Residnential Life

Building Campus Community (paperback, $12) shares effective strategies and a guiding philosophy that enable college and universities to foster positive relationships, respond to conflicts and problems and raise consciousness about bias, alcohol abuse and other critical campus issues. The International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) Graduate School, a leading provider of restorative practices education and professional development, has adapted these practices—employed in schools and organizations worldwide—for use on university campuses.

A practical handbook on the use of restorative practices in campus residential life, Building Campus Community includes comprehensive implementation guidelines as well as numerous true stories—some enlightening, some comical, some poignant — about how the practices are being applied in higher education.