NEWS

Howard Zehr Interviewed for Think Progress

June 24th, 2015 by Zehr Institute

Forgiveness, ‘Cheap Grace,’ And The Struggle For Justice In Charleston by Jack Jenkins Posted on June 23, 2015 at 8:00 am at http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/06/23/3672722/charleston-shooter-forgiveness/ When news of the horrific murder of nine black churchgoers in Charleston at the hands of alleged gunman Dylann Roof broke last week, the most obvious reaction was outrage. Social media exploded […]

Harrisonburg police and community members join hands in offering restorative justice option

March 19th, 2015 by Zehr Institute

If one particular young man in Harrisonburg had stolen from his employer a few months earlier, he might have found himself standing before a judge, facing a possible jail sentence. Thanks to a new restorative justice program with the Harrisonburg Police Department (HPD), however, this young thief instead found himself facing his employer to talk about […]

Ali Gohar of Pakistan is first to receive CJP award for outstanding service

March 5th, 2015 by Zehr Institute

Marking its 20th anniversary year during 2014-15, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) will be conferring its first Alumni Award for Outstanding Service on Ali Gohar, a Pakistani national who earned a CJP master’s degree in 2002 on a Fulbright scholarship. “This award will be given annually for CJP alumni who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to […]

Local colleges partner to teach nonviolence at Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County

February 6th, 2015 by Zehr Institute

Some children can struggle to channel their frustrations effectively, but a local program is trying to change that. The agape-satyagraha internship, a partnership between the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg-Rockingham County and Eastern Mennonite University, teaches teenagers nonviolent conflict resolution in a safe setting. Every week, interns – or “mentors” – from EMU and […]

Restorative justice alum Joseph Luciani garners national attention by dramatically reducing suspensions in LA schools

January 26th, 2015 by Zehr Institute

One Los Angeles school has experienced a “tectonic” decrease in suspensions, with more L.A. schools preparing to follow suit, as a result of the restorative disciplinary efforts of Joseph Luciani, a 2013 master’s graduate of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. Luciani’s work received wide recognition in early 2015 as a result of […]

Our man in Mexico – Howard Zehr – gets mistaken for a famous Mexican poet, so they decide to meet …

July 16th, 2014 by Zehr Institute

Settling in before a major public appearance in Mexico, restorative justice expert Howard Zehr was strolling through the market in Victoria, Tamaulipas. It was July 2, a day before he was to be the keynote speaker at the First National Conference of Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms organized by Mexico’s national organization of state courts. Zehr was with two friends […]

County needs to ask more questions regarding alternatives to jail before building another facility

July 7th, 2014 by Zehr Institute

Restorative justice expert Howard Zehr is the author of the following op-ed piece on the need to examine alternatives to constantly building more space in EMU’s home region to incarcerate more and more people. Having worked with justice and correctional issues for almost 40 years, I am pleased that county officials are looking at alternatives […]

CJP grad helps pilot restorative justice program in nation’s second-largest school system

June 13th, 2014 by Zehr Institute

Joseph Luciani, MA ’13, has spent the last year leading a restorative justice pilot program in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school system in the United States. Strong interest in such a program, and in its results, lends support to a decision by Eastern Mennonite University to launch the first graduate-level restorative justice […]

Desire to address, heal, traumatic legacy of U.S. slavery sparks growth in Coming to the Table group

June 5th, 2014 by Zehr Institute

Sessions at Coming to the Table are rarely easy. Despite the time separating current Americans from the era of legal slavery in the United States, the wounds of racial injustice remain fresh for the descendants of slaves, especially in the face of ignorance or denial of these wounds. At the 2014 annual meeting of Coming to the […]

Iranian-Islamic women scholars embrace model of interactive teaching at Summer Peacebuilding Institute

May 23rd, 2014 by Zehr Institute

For two women from an Islamic seminary in Iran, one of the best parts about attending the 2014 Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University is experiencing an interactive style of teaching, where lengthy lectures are rare and role-playing is common. “We do lots of exercises, many projects, in this class,” said Sabereh Ahmadi Movaghar, referring to “Leadership […]

EMU mourns death of Vincent Harding, a Mennonite compatriot of MLK, a friend to all oppressed peoples

May 20th, 2014 by Zehr Institute

Eastern Mennonite University joins millions of people worldwide in grieving the passing of Vincent Harding, sorrowing that we will no longer hear his prophetic voice in person – reminding us that the dream for “true democracy and justice” of Harding’s friend, Martin Luther King Jr., has yet to be realized. Harding died yesterday [May 19, […]