BC Looks To Expand Restorative Practices on Campus

community-based applications of restorative practices.

“I feel like it’s much more community-based,” Lopinsky said. “So if students are having issues come up on campus, say around identity, I feel like if we have conferences or circles that we learned about in training, students will be more comfortable just talking amongst themselves.” ating a space that encourages growth and learning, according to DeVoy. practices can also help build community at BC.

Lopinsky said he gained a new sense of emotional intelligence from the training, and he hopes to apply what he learned to his future career in education.

“Having [launched the minor], I started to think, ‘Okay, there are other ways this can be used at Boston College, and there are other spaces, other systems, and other contexts in which this has wonderful applications,” DeVoy said.

Restorative practices, for example, could be beneficial in responding to academic integrity violations, cre-

“Not everything needs to be an all or nothing with academic integrity [cases],” DeVoy said. “Those are teachable moments and opportunities to develop and lift people as they grow, and I think it’s been so nice to have that lens embedded in that [process].”

During times of national tragedy, Woolsey said she hopes restorative

“And then also respond to other issues that happen even outside of BC,” Woolsey said. “So when we watch national tragedies or things happen, how do we come together as a community to support each other in that?”

Travis Lopinsky, LSEHD ’25, participated in the University’s training. Like Woolsey, he highlighted the

“I feel like people have a harder time with conflict because it’s harder for them to identify their emotions,” he said. “It’s not really something that’s taught a lot in schools. And so I feel like this is really an opportunity to name what you’re feeling and for everyone else to see that—I feel like it’s humanizing in a way.”

Lopinsky said trainees also learned about talking circles, discussion spaces in which participants sit in a circle and share their feelings about a specific conflict or topic.

“The circles that we learned about in training is just like talking a lot about ourselves, becoming familiar with each other, which I feel like helps with conflict resolution, because you’re much more comfortable bringing it up and talking to each other,” Lopinsky said.

Woolsey said BC plans to grow awareness about restorative practices by offering more training sessions for students and faculty in the future.

“So I think this semester, we’re trying to encourage all the facilitators to get out there, run as many circles as they can and then hope for more structured models moving forward,” Woolsey said. “And then as we feel more comfortable with that capacity to continue to train new people continue to bring it up to other groups within campus as well.”

By integrating restorative practice themes across campus and into various majors and minors, DeVoy said BC students can become men and women for others.

“I feel like that’s going to produce a ripple effect of students that go out into the world and meet the Boston College mission, you know, ‘men and women for others,’” DeVoy said. “And to me, that is why I do what I do.” n