Some California colleges are experimenting with ,”restorative justice circles” to deal with sexual assault charges, report Oden Taylor and Felicia Mello for CalMatters. Police are not informed. There is no formal hearing to determine what happened. Instead, both students discuss what happened and how to prevent future incidents. …

I think an informal conversation with an apology is appropriate for sexual harassment allegations, but not for sexual assault. “Restorative justice” makes sense only if “sexual assault” doesn’t mean “rape.” What does it mean? What is that the “survivor” has survived?