The UC Davis Underground Scholars Program (USP) is a program for students who have been directly impacted by the criminal punishment system, including formerly incarcerated people or those with incarcerated family members.
Guiding Values
- The Intrinsic Value of Persons. We believe that every person has inherent value and holds the power of possibility and transformation within them. In respect of this value, we use person-centered language when referring to individuals with an incarceration history. (see Underground Scholars Language Guide).
- Equitable Access to Education. We believe that access to meaningful, high-quality, face-to-face higher education is fundamental to breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty, abuse, addiction, unemployment and confinement.
- Formerly Incarcerated Leadership. We believe that the integration, education and leadership development of formerly incarcerated people are essential to the work of creating solutions to the social crisis of mass incarceration.
- Education as Public Safety. We believe that meaningful, high-quality higher education ultimately makes stronger, safer communities. We believe that public resources are better invested in education and other opportunities for transformation than prisons and punishment.
- Civic Engagement. We believe that community engagement is at once a right, a responsibility and a means of empowerment. We aim to inspire all USP scholars to be informed and engaged civic agents.