News
The Power of Possibility: Overcoming Adversity Through Higher Education for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals
In this article, Shawn Khalifa, Communications Coordinator for the UCI Underground Scholars Program, narrates how the power of education helped him discover his potential and changed his life. Told in the third-person, Shawn recounts how he overcame a difficult childhood and wrongful incarceration to become a UCI student and educational advocate for those impacted by the criminal justice system. Shawn Khalifa grew up in a difficult environment. His mother, Colleen, grew sick of hearing mothers...
Everything You Need to Know About the UCI Underground Scholars Program
Hector Cervantes (second from the right) and Underground Scholars staff accompanying UCI students on their legislative visit to Sacramento in 2022. In 2018, Hector Cervantes launched the Underground Scholars Initiative at the University of California, Irvine (USI at UCI), a student-led organization dedicated to serving students directly and indirectly impacted by the California carceral system. An extension of the Underground Scholars Initiative founded at the University of California,...
Faculty Testimonial from Keramet Reiter, Professor, UCI Social Ecology
“Underground Scholars does more than provide a support community to formerly incarcerated students on campus. They work to educate the campus community about the perspectives of and challenges faced by formerly incarcerated students, mobilize to overcome barriers to success, and proactively support formerly incarcerated students applying to join the campus community. And they have been core partners in building LIFTED, the first University of California bachelor’s program for incarcerated...
Faculty Testimonial from Katie Tinto, Professor, UCI Law School
“Underground Scholars provides a critical voice and support for our students here are UCI who are formerly justice-system-involved.” Katie Tinto, Professor, UCI Law School