On Friday, Oct. 25, students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Honors Program traveled across town to have a guided discussion on restorative justice surrounding gun violence with the Marquette University Honors Program.
The discussions happened as a way for Honors students at both institutions to debrief The Union of Restorative Justice Healthcare and Street Outreach: A Healing Approach to Preventing Gun Violence, a panel hosted by Marquette University Law School’s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice.
Participants split into small groups made up of an even number of Marquette and UWM Honors students and a faculty facilitator. They were then given prompts to silently write about then share their answers with the group.
“I was really interested to hear the firsthand accounts and learn a little bit more about gun violence,” Olivia Satchell, a first-year in the College of Arts & Sciences, said. “It was really cool to just get to hear all the different insights from different people sharing unique stories about how it impacted them specifically in Milwaukee.”
Satchell said she was motivated to come to this event because she is studying political science with a focus on public policy, and someday wants to work in Congress writing bills.
Vanessa Chavez, an Honors student from UWM, said something that was brought up in her small group that made an impact on her was learning how to approach others with empathy and meet them where they are at.
“Putting your own thoughts and perspectives through the lens of somebody else’s reality and meeting people where they’re at pertains to the criminal justice system, but also to everyday life,” Chavez said.
Chavez said she traveled from UWM to Marquette with her fellow Honors students because Ben Schneider, associate teaching professor in the UWM Honors College, told her about the event. She also said she is interested in attending Marquette’s Law School.
Lindsay Daigle, assistant director of the Marquette Honors Program, said that she previously worked at UWM with Schneider, and he contacted her to set the discussions up.
“I didn’t know about the conference until Ben told me about it. It was his idea, and he was like, ‘It would be a cool thing to collaborate with students.’ From there he and I just grew the plans. We thought it would be particularly beneficial for both groups to be in discussion,” Daigle said.
This is the first time the Honors programs at Marquette and UWM have done an event like this. Daigle and Schneider both said they want to collaborate again in the future.
This story was written by Ellie Golko. She can be reached at [email protected].
