Peace Studies Conference to be held Sept. 14-15 at SJU
August 31, 2015
The 28th annual Peace Studies Conference will be held Sept. 14-15 at Saint John's University, Collegeville.
The theme for this year's conference, "Restorative Justice, Peacebuilding and the Use of Circles in Minnesota's Schools and Communities," was prompted by the protests at St. Cloud (Minnesota) Technical High School in the spring of 2015, which reflected broader issues in the St. Cloud community and its schools. The conference is an effort to bring together everyone interested in exploring ways of building positive relations in the St. Cloud community and its schools, and to examine programming that addresses bullying and disciplinary issues in the schools.
All the conference's presentations are in the Centenary Room (room 264), Quadrangle Building, SJU, and are free and open to the public.
Each day's presentations are from 1-5:30 p.m., with a dinner break followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.
Keynote speakers include:
- Alexis Goffe, former director of Minnesota Restorative Services Coalition and now program officer for the Community Building program of the Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization, will speak on "Restorative Justice in Minnesota's Schools and Communities," at 1:05 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14.
Goffe will open the conference with an overview of restorative practices, peacebuilding and the use of relationship-building circles in Minnesota's schools and communities. Minnesota is a national leader in these areas.
- Nancy Riestenberg, school climate specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education, will focus on Minnesota's schools in her talk, "Restorative Measures in Minnesota's Schools," at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14.
Riestenberg has 25 years of experience in the fields of violence and bullying prevention education, child sexual abuse prevention and restorative measures in schools. She provides technical assistance to educators regarding the use of circles in classrooms and how to repair harm and to prevent bullying.
- Josh Bacon, associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices at James Madison University, speaks on "Restorative Justice in Colleges and Universities" at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Bacon directs a restorative justice system that brings together victims of offenses, the perpetrators of them and affected community members to sit in a facilitated circle and, one by one, share their thoughts on the harms done and the way those could be put right. Bacon also helped to develop the newly established restorative justice program in Harrisonburg, Virginia, which provides an alternative to court trials.
- Ellen Kyes, director of the Take Ten Program, a joint effort of the Robinson Community Learning Center in partnership the University of Notre Dame, speaks on, "Lessons from 15 Years of the Take Ten Violence Prevention/Conflict Resolution Program," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15.
The Take Ten Program was established in 1995 in Chicago and, through the Notre Dame-Robinson Community partnership, is used in four high schools and 10 other schools in the South Bend, Indiana, area. It is a skills-based program which teaches conflict resolution, bullying prevention and the tools to make peaceful choices, and incorporates peacemaking circles and restorative practices in the schools.
The conference also brings together a number of experienced practitioners and researchers, including Oscar Reed, a former running back for the Minnesota Viking who played in three Super Bowls, and his peacemaking circles and restorative practices co-worker Jamie Williams. Other speakers include St. Cloud District 742 Director of Equity Services Sebastian Witherspoon, St. Cloud Somali community leader Jama Alimad and Tina Sigel and Cynthia Prosek from Restorative Justice Community Action in Minneapolis.
The event is co-sponsored by the CSB/SJU Peace Studies Department; the CSB/SJU Sociology Department; the CSB/SJU Education Department; the SJU Chair in Critical Thinking; the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement; the pre-law program at CSB/SJU; Intercultural and International Student Studies at CSB/SJU; and the Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization, a St. Cloud nonprofit that works largely with the Somali community.