Our Mission

 

Berkeley Underground Scholars (BUS) creates a pathway for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated and system impacted individuals into higher education. We are building a prison-to-school pipeline through recruitment, retention, advocacy, wellness, and career services. BUS is an academic support program housed within the Division of Equity and Inclusion at UC Berkeley.

Underground Scholars Initiative (USI) is the student org that works in partnership with BUS. USI is completely student-run. The two organizations, BUS & USI, are separate and aligned. For UC Students who would like more information on USI Chapters on each campus and how to join please see USI Chapters section below.

We prioritize our services for formerly incarcerated students. We define system-impacted as a person who is legally, economically, or familially affected in a negative way by the incarceration of a close relative. System-impacted also includes people who have been arrested and/or convicted without incarceration.

 
 

OUR IMPACT

Our History

 

Underground Scholars was started in the Spring of 2013 by formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students at UC Berkeley as the Underground Scholars Initiative (USI), a student organization.

In 2014, USI received funding from the University of California Berkeley through a fee referendum that students voted on. That funding made it possible for USI to rent some office space at Stiles Hall, hire our first director, transfer coordinator, and five formerly incarcerated students to work in our office. In 2016, we partnered with Senator Loni Hancock who led an effort to secure funding from the state to initiate the development of an academic support program to serve formerly incarcerated students in addition to the student organization, USI. Berkeley Underground Scholars was born out of that effort. 

Shortly after USI was developed at UC Berkeley, formerly incarcerated students at UCLA began to develop a chapter. As Berkeley’s USI members graduated and spread through the UC system for graduate school, they began building chapters on other campuses. Please see our Chapters section below for more information about our presence at other campuses.

 
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Underground Scholars Chapters

We work closely with the Berkeley Underground Scholars Initiative, a student led organization, to serve UC Berkeley Students:

USI UC Berkeley:

Link to Join: https://callink.berkeley.edu/organization/usi

Instagram: @theundergroundscholars

Facebook: facebook.com/undergroundscholars

We are working with the following UC’s across the state to implement the Underground Scholars Program Model.

USI UC Irvine:

Email: uciundergroundscholars@gmail.com

Program Director: Hector Cervantes, hcervan1@uci.edu

Assistant Director: Diana Greer, djgreer@uci.edu

Instagram: @uciundergroundscholars

Facebook: USIatUCI

USI UC Santa Barbara:

Email: undergroundscholars.sb.ucsb@gmail.com 

Program Director: Melissa Ortiz, melissaortiz@umail.ucsb.edu

Instagram: @usi.ucsantabarbara

Facebook: Underground Scholars Santa Barbara 

USI UC San Diego:

Website: https://usiucsd.org/ and https://oasis.ucsd.edu/programs/USI-folder/index.html

Email: usi.ucsd@gmail.com

Instagram: @usi.ucsd

Mailing Address:

OASIS/Triton Underground Scholars

9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla, CA 92093-0045

Berkeley Underground Scholars Advisory Board 

The development and growth of BUS and USI have been deeply supported by the Underground Scholars Advisory board, made up of faculty, administrators, campus and community leaders. Our team of advisors supports our students and our program by offering mentorship, research opportunities, resources, and partnership. Our faculty advisory board currently includes:

Laleh Behbehanian, Sociology

Robert J. Birgeneau,  Chancellor Emeritus

Travis Bristol, School of Education

Tolani A. Britton, Department of City and Regional Planning and School of Public Health

Jason Corburn, Graduate School of Education

Keith Feldman, Ethnic Studies

Cybelle Fox, Sociology

Pablo Gonzalez, Ethnic Studies

Bob Haas, Chairman Emeritus ‎Levi Strauss & Co.

David Harding, Sociology

Nikki Jones, African American Studies

Dacher Keltner, Psychology

Amy Lerman, Public Policy

Margaretta Wan-Ling Lin, Executive Director, Just Cities

Ruben Lizardo, Local Government & Community Relations

Fabrizio Mejia, Associate Vice Chancellor Division of Equity & Inclusion

Tony Mirabelli, Athletic Study Center

Olufemi Ogundele, Associate Vice Chancellor of Admissions & Enrollment

Kurt Organista, Social Welfare

Steve Raphael, Public Policy

Victoria Robinson, Ethnic Studies

Tina Sacks, Social Welfare

Nancy Skinner, State Senator

Jonathan Simon, Law

Ula Taylor, African American Studies

R. Jay Wallace, Philosophy