‘Your presence is resistance’: 5 things we learned from the Library’s Berkeley Underground Scholars panel

by Tor Haugan

February 5, 2020

Leneka Pendergrass, second from left, talks about the Berkeley Underground Scholars program at the Free Speech Movement Café in Moffitt Library. (Photos by Jami Smith for the UC Berkeley Library)

Berkeley Underground Scholars is more than a program: In the words of director Azadeh Zohrabi, “This is a movement.”

On Tuesday evening, a standing-room-only crowd of more than 50 people crammed into Moffitt Library’s Free Speech Movement Café for a screening of From Incarceration to Education (with remarks by filmmaker Skylar Economy) and a panel discussion featuring Daniela Medina, Leneka Pendergrass, and Jessi Fernandez, formerly incarcerated students with the Berkeley Underground Scholars program, along with Berkeley sociology professor David Harding.

At once inspiring, poignant, and eye-opening, the event — presented by the Library’s Free Speech Movement Café Educational Programs Committee — addressed the challenges of reversing the school-to-prison pipeline, and provided firsthand accounts from students who have made that leap, and who are working to make it easier for others to do the same.

Here are five things we learned.

Scholar Daniela Medina, left, answers a question Tuesday.

Scholar Daniela Medina, left, answers a question Tuesday.

1. The Berkeley Underground Scholars is a movement — and it’s growing.

The Berkeley Underground Scholars Initiative started as a small group of students around 2012. Together, they developed programs to help students like themselves: a cross-enrollment program, where community college students who are formerly incarcerated or who have been affected by a loved one’s incarceration could take classes at UC Berkeley, and a transfer program, supporting community college students applying to Berkeley. 

A few years in, with funding from the state, the Berkeley Underground Scholars program was launched.

But it didn’t stop there. 

UCLA became the first school to adopt the Underground Scholars Initiative model — and the model has since been adopted all over the state. Formerly incarcerated students at UC Riverside, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego, and UC Davis are starting Underground Scholars Initiative chapters on their respective campuses. And the Regents are on the verge of providing funding statewide. If the budget is approved, Berkeley Underground Scholars director Azadeh Zohrabi said, “by the end of this year, early next year, we could have full programs of underground scholars at every UC campus serving all of the state of California.

“We’re really excited about what that means for our ability to work with more community college students and reach deeper inside the prisons,” she said.

Guests watch the film From Incarceration to Education.

2. Research on formerly incarcerated college students is scant.

Guests watch the film From Incarceration to Education.

There’s a dearth of research on formerly incarcerated college students, David Harding, the sociology professor on the panel, said. 

But we do know a few things. Most formerly incarcerated students are at community colleges. (“Not everyone makes it to a place like Berkeley,” he said.) And over a quarter of people who are released from prison before the age of 25 end up going to college at some point, he said.

Harding is working with formerly incarcerated students to contribute to the body of research around the issue. Instead of using the traditional model, with the professor assigning topics for research projects, Harding has students drive the research questions, encouraging them to draw on their own experiences — for example, by studying the prospect of finding employment for people with criminal records.

3. Here’s how we could smooth the pathway to college.

Harding points to a few ways to help open doors to people who were formerly incarcerated who want to go to college.

Programs such as Berkeley Underground Scholars provide crucial support for formerly incarcerated students. Plus, he said, college needs to be more affordable — not just tuition, but also other costs associated with getting an education.

Also, making institutional pathways to college more seamless would ease the transition from incarceration to education. Under this “continuation of education” model, someone taking classes while incarcerated could more easily enter college once released, Harding said.

Scholar Jessi Fernandez says he wants to inspire other students.

4. There can be a whole lot of challenges for formerly incarcerated students.

Scholar Jessi Fernandez says he wants to inspire other students.

Even after making it to Berkeley, formerly incarcerated students are still confronted with challenges, stereotypes, and probing questions they’d just as soon avoid. 

Triggers can come in a lot of forms, whether it’s an insensitive comment about felons or a question about the meaning behind a tattoo. Group discussions in the classroom can cause discomfort, and questions about a formerly incarcerated student’s past can be difficult to field. (“What were you doing during that World Series?” might sound innocent, but the answer — “I was watching it from my cell” — might be more than a student wishes to share, scholar Daniela Medina said.)

In addition to the internal struggles, there are a raft of external challenges.

“Our students are being profiled and harassed by other students, by faculty, by police,” Zohrabi said. “They are still being asked, ‘Why are you in this building? Who are you? Let me see your ID’ — not just on this campus but on other UC campuses.

“It’s still not fully normal or acceptable to have underground scholars on any UC campus, as much as we celebrate this program.”

The totality of these experiences can make scholars feel unwelcome and serves as a harsh reminder: “These institutions were never equipped for folks like us,” as scholar Jessi Fernandez said.

“We have such a long way to go,” Medina said.

But just by being at Berkeley — by being themselves — formerly incarcerated students can make a difference.

“Your presence is resistance,” Fernandez said.

5. It’s about more than the diploma.

If there’s one thing shared among the scholars on the panel, it’s a clear-eyed sense of purpose.

For the panelists, it’s not just about getting that degree — it’s about helping make the path easier for students like them.

For Leneka Pendergrass, Berkeley Underground Scholars has provided a much-needed support system and has helped her put words to her own experience, allowing her to better help others. (It has also provided her daughter “a secondhand UC Berkeley education,” she said.)

“We’re not doing this for us,” Medina added. “We’re doing it for the people who are coming behind us.”

Underground Scholar Provides Expert Testimony on Senate Bill 575

Proposed California Senate bill to extend Cal Grant to incarcerated students

Click image to see video of Aminah’s testimony

BY LEON CHEN | STAFF

LAST UPDATED MAY 2, 2019

A bill introduced in the California State Senate on Feb. 22, which proposes extending the availability of Cal Grant funds to incarcerated students, was set aside by the Appropriations Committee on Monday, and may be heard at a later hearing.

Senate Bill 575 was introduced by Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, on Feb. 22 and would amend the current Cal Grant Program — which administers financial aid programs for students attending public and private universities, colleges and vocational schools in California — to allow incarcerated students to be considered eligible to receive the Cal Grant award.

Aminah Elster, a student leader with Berkeley Underground Scholars, has provided expert testimony in support of SB 575, according to Berkeley Underground Scholars Director Azadeh Zohrabi.

“One of the large barriers to higher education for incarcerated students (is that) they don’t have access to the funding,” Elster said. “More folks would be able to access a better future and education.”

Elster said that she took college courses while in prison, adding that they helped her get on a path to receive a higher level of education. She has since enrolled at UC Berkeley as an undergraduate student. She added that numerous colleges and organizations have voiced their support for SB 575.

Elster noted that the number of people that could benefit from the bill is “great,” citing California’s large incarcerated population. She added that the bill could help increase diversity in California’s universities.

“The money would come from the state’s general fund,” Elster said.

The Senate Committee on Education bill analysis cited a report by Corrections to College California that face-to-face community college enrollment inside the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation rose from zero in 2014 to 4,443 students in the fall of 2017. The bill analysis also noted that the UC system has on-campus support programs for formerly incarcerated students.

According to the analysis, incarcerated students are eligible for federal financial aid under the Second Chance Pell pilot program. In order to qualify, however, students must be “eligible for release into the community and must be able to complete their program post release.” The bill analysis states that SB 575 may allow individuals ineligible for release access to the Cal Grant Program.

Kevin McCarthy, who was admitted to UC Berkeley and allowed to defer his enrollment to 2020, noted in a letter the opportunities that SB 575 could open.

“Many incarcerated students are stuck idle in their educational path due to their lack of access to funding for higher education,” McCarthy said in the letter. “It is exciting to think about the contributions that many incarcerated men and women could make to their communities, if they parole with a Bachelor’s Degree.”

Contact Leon Chen at leonchen@dailycal.org and follow him on Twitter at @leonwchen.

Read about Aminah Elster’s testimony for proposed Senate Bill 575 HERE. The bill proposes extending the availability of Cal Grant funds to incarcerated students.

Underground Scholars Language Guide

A Guide for Communicating About people Involved In The Carceral System

Increasing attention is being given to the language people use when discussing individual or group identities and experiences. In large part, marginalized people must demand the respect to create and amplify language that they consider more humanizing than the negative narratives imposed on us by dominant society. The late Eddie Ellis, a wrongfully convicted member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, established the first academic think tank run by formerly incarcerated people: Center for NuLeadership. Paroling in 1994 with multiple degrees, Ellis worked to advance the dialogue around those who have been system impacted. Twenty five years later and our collective struggle to be recognized for the fullness of who we are as people remains. 

Language is not merely descriptive, it is creative. For too long we have borne the burden of having to recreate our humanity in the eyes of those who would have us permanently defined by a system that grew directly out of the the institution of American slavery, an institution that depended on the dehumanization of the people it enslaved. It is in this spirit that we, the formerly incarcerated and system-impacted academics who identify as the Underground Scholars Initiative (USI) at the University of California, Berkeley, call on the media, students, and public to utilize the following terminology when discussing our population individually or collectively. This is not about euphemisms or glossing over people's actions rather it is about reclaiming our identity as people first. It is important to note that this style guide is equally applicable when talking about similarly situated populations outside the United States.

Thank you in advance for respecting us enough to treat us as humans.

In solidarity,

Underground Scholars Initiative (USI)

Terminology Guide

• Incarcerated Person refers to anyone currently incarcerated. It makes no claim about guilt or innocence (contrary to words like “convict”), nor does it attach a permanent identity to an often temporary status (like “prisoner” etc.)

• Formerly Incarcerated Person refers to anyone who has been in a carceral setting and is now released. Prison, immigration detention centers, local jails, juvenile detention centers, etc. are included under this umbrella term. Attaching the prefix ex- to anything (ex-convict, ex-felon, etc.) is a clear indication that it, and the root word itself, are unacceptable.

• System Impacted includes those who have been incarcerated, those with arrests/convictions but no incarceration and those who have been directly impacted by a loved one being incarcerated. While those close to us, as well as the broader society are negatively impacted by our incarceration, it is often our partners, parents, children and/or siblings who face the most significant disadvantages behind our absence and thus, categorically merit this designation.

• Carceral System is far more accurate than the ubiquitous term “Criminal Justice System.” Not all who violate the law (commit a crime) are exposed to this system and justice is a relative term that most people in this country do not positively associate with our current model. In this context, Carceral System is best understood as a comprehensive network of systems that rely, at least in part, on the exercise of state sanctioned physical, emotional, spatial, economic and political violence to preserve the interests of the state. This includes formal institutions such as, law enforcement and the courts, surveillance and data mining technology, NGO / non-profit consultants, conservative criminologists, those who manifest and/or financially benefit from modern slave labor, corporate predation on incarcerated people and our communities, the counterinsurgency in communities of color through ‘soft-policing’, etc.

• People Convicted of (Drug Violations / Violent Offenses / etc.) Calling people “violent offenders”, “drug offenders” etc. continues to reduce one’s identity to a particular type of conviction. It is rarely necessary to specify the type of crime an incarcerated or formerly incarcerated person was convicted of, however, and when doing so, it should be phrased in line with this guidance.

• Gang Member is the one term on this list for which there is not a replacement. It is a subjective term that has zero probative value in discourse around communities that experience high rates of violence and/or marginalized people. If people choose to self-identify as such then that is their right. The label should never be placed on another.

• Person on Parole / Probation instead of “parolee” or “probationer.” Again, it is about articulating the person first, not whatever temporary or circumstantial qualifiers may be perceived. Be mindful to preserve the privacy of those who may be on probation or parole.

• People with No Lawful Status are those with no legal status and who are not engaged with the immigration system at this time for whatever reason.

• Undocumented People refers to people who are engaged in the asylum, DACA, etc. process but it is not complete to the point of providing guaranteed citizenship. 

• Resident should replace “citizen”, including in the phrase “returning citizen” that has been adopted by some to describe formerly incarcerated people. Citizens carry rights and responsibilities that many incarcerated, formerly incarcerated people, undocumented people, and people without status do not have. Millions of people are legally denied the right to vote, the right to serve on a jury, the right to run for an elected office, the right to travel freely, etc. Citizenship is exclusive and the word should only be used when intended to refer to people who carry all the rights of citizenship.

• Sexual Assault Survivor refers to anyone who has experienced molestation, rape, sexual assault, etc. While far too many people have experienced abuse; that does not make us a victim (a passive identity), but rather a survivor (an active identity). 

• Sex Trafficking Survivors are also sexual assault survivors, yet with the added trauma of being kidnapped and exploited for the economic gain of others. The survivors are often incarcerated for the very acts they were forced to do, exacerbating a cycle of abuse. Not all Sex Workers, most often female and LGBTQ people, have been, or are being trafficked. Caution must be taken to not conflate the two.

• Sex Workers are people voluntarily engaged in any work, whether legal or illegal, that centers around sex. This includes street prostitution, webcam workers, escorts, etc. of any gender identity. It does not include exotic dancers who choose not to engage in off-stage business as described, nor is it the proper designation for sex trafficking survivors.

• Communities that Experience High Rates of Violence is preferable to “violent communities” and its evil twin “bad/disadvantaged neighborhoods.” Labeling a community as “violent” demonizes all  people within it. It places the burden of such a disparaging label on the community itself without highlighting the systemic factors that are necessary for a community to repeatedly experience such trauma.

• Drug / Substance Use is more accurate than “abuse”. One does not abuse heroin, meth, alcohol etc., they use it to feel the anticipated effects of the substance. The classification and prohibition of substances is political, not medical, and has always been a tool to police communities of color. To misidentify users as abusers is a continuation of the strategic propaganda employed to dehumanize and vilify particular populations who use drugs. Drug and substance use among marginalized people is often a means of self-medicating for us who are denied meaningful access to local, culturally competent, and affordable mental health services by the same systems that perpetuate the abuse from which we seek relief. People who are abused cannot then be called abusers for a private, personal attempt at self-preservation. 

Topical Guide:

• Public Safety All of us are in favor of public safety even as many are rightfully critical of law enforcement. The two concepts are not synonymous, and in fact are typically in conflict, as evident when one views videos of police killing residents, destroying property and harassing people traveling by foot, car, bus or plane. We encourage those writing about police/community relations to challenge both sides on what public safety looks like, particularly in communities where many residents find the police to be a destabilizing force operating contrary to safety.

• War on Crime / Drugs / Gangs are failed policies of the US government executed here and abroad and should be exposed as such in any discourse that chooses to use this verbiage lest the public continue to believe these are efforts that deserve support.

• Violent vs. Non-Violent Crimes is a pseudo-dichotomy. Burglary can be classified as a “violent crime” while rape may be “non-violent” in the eyes of the law. Furthermore, the vast majority of people incarcerated in non-immigration detention centers are classified as violent thus, any substantive reform must include them / us. Lastly, we know the threat of incarceration is not a meaningful deterrent, and with programs like higher education for the incarcerated, people can leave prison and be successful regardless of their commitment offense.

• Good vs. Bad in any context of human beings is flawed at best and violent at worst. Juxtaposing “good immigrants” who do things the right way with “bad immigrants” who don’t, or “good people” who change their life with “bad people” who don’t, or “good girls” who appear to accept patriarchy with “bad girls” who clearly don’t, are all value judgments dependent on the perspective of the person framing the narrative. These narratives are overwhelmingly white, heterosexual, cis-gendered, middle-or upper-class, male, Protestant perspectives. Those of us who do not fit in that mold have and will find ourselves misrepresented, devalued, and differentiated.

Suggested Citation:

Michael Cerda-Jara, Steven Czifra, Abel Galindo, Joshua Mason, Christina Ricks, Azadeh Zohrabi. Language Guide for Communicating About Those Involved In The Carceral System. Berkeley, CA: Underground Scholars Initiative, UC Berkeley, 2019.

Direct inquiries to undergroundscholars@berkeley.edu

Formerly Incarcerated Student Leadership Institute

The Berkeley Underground Scholars program recently hosted the launch meeting of a new Leadership Institute that builds capacity for California Community Colleges to serve formerly incarcerated students. The two-day meeting included leaders from 20 community colleges, from Shasta College in the north to Imperial Valley in the south. The community college teams, which included students, faculty and administrators, will participate in a year-long community practice designed to introduce participants to program strategies that engage and support formerly incarcerated students in community colleges and universities. To better understand the challenges prospective students encounter in their transition from incarceration to college, institute participants spent their first day meeting with inmates and staff at Solano Prison.

The Berkeley Underground Scholars program, with its strong track record of outreach, mentoring, and academic support for formerly incarcerated students, was the inspiration for State Senator Nancy Skinner’s (D-Berkeley) effort to secure $250,000 in state funding for the project which is administered by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. The Opportunity Institute, which matched the state investment, plays a lead role in the Leadership Institute, along with the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. The Berkeley Underground Scholars play a lead role in the partnership, providing mentoring support to students in participating colleges and serving as workshop leaders.

Outlaw(ed) Intellectuals: Critiquing Structures of Power

BUS members and alumni Davíd Maldonado and Clint Terrell helped organize a conference at UCSB to discuss the impacts of incarceration and higher education. Learn more about the conference HERE.

Click on image for the video