Integrity Boards

Source: (2004) In David R. Karp and Thom Allena, eds., Restorative Justice on the College Campus: promoting student growth and responsibility, and reawakening the spirit of campus community. Springfield, Ill. : C.C. Thomas. Pp. 29-41. Downloaded 31 March 2005.

David Karp teaches sociology at Skidmore College in upstate New York. He played an important role in adapting Vermont’s Department of Corrections Reparative Probation Program to a college setting – namely, the establishment of an Integrity Board program at Skidmore. As Karp notes, Skidmore has had integrity boards for some time, but only recently has the college incorporated restorative justice principles and practices into those boards. In this regard, while many schools have judicial boards, a restorative justice integrity board differs in both process and outcome. In particular, integrity boards seek to foster trust, emotional expression, and community building in dealing student judicial affairs through determination of guilt or responsibility, as well as through its sanctions. To detail the nature and operation of integrity boards, Karp looks at membership in and training for a board, its relationships with academic programs and with the criminal justice system, the integrity board process, reparative sanctions, and reintegrative sanctions.