When you're talking to someone inside about how the new phone provider might be better and the call drops.....

“‘The fact that around 2,000 individuals are on waitlists — almost the same number as are actually enrolled — suggests that we need to greatly scale up [higher education in prison] in Illinois,’ Ginsburg said.” @charlottewest.bsky.social for @opencampus.org & @wbez.org www.wbez.org/public-safet...

I can't be the only one who has gotten confused on the difference between SurveyMonkey and Mailchimp.

Looking at the decisions coming out of the SC this morning and I have a question for lawyers. If some parents can argue that it's against their religion for their kids to be exposed to LGBTQ literature, isn't there a parallel argument that others don't want their kids to read heteronormative books?

Last night, I covered the first meeting of the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance. Here's how it went: www.chalkbeat.org/indiana/2025...

This story, written by me and produced by @prisoncast.bsky.social, tell a story of bureaucratic barriers, arbitrary rules, and one man’s refusal to give up on earning his education. Done in partnership with @wbez.org www.wbez.org/criminal-jus...

Undocumented students in Texas are no longer eligible for in-state tuition after Texas agreed last with the federal government’s demand to stop the practice. From our local partner @texastribune.org www.opencampus.org/2025/06/04/t...

Here's why local higher education coverage matters. Our managing editor Colleen Murphy talked to @trustingnews.bsky.social about why we do the work that we do and how journalists can better explain their coverage to their communities. trustingnews.org/journalists-...

Ohio State University removed a website offering support for LGBTQ+ students as leaders respond to an anti-DEI law set to take effect in late June. It’s unclear what, if any, programming or support remains for LGBTQ+ students at the state’s flagship university. www.opencampus.org/2025/06/03/o...

San Francisco State recently hosted a reentry simulation to educate the campus and community about the challenges that people face after prison. My latest for @opencampus.org www.opencampus.org/2025/06/09/h...

If you are formerly incarcerated, please take our survey about college and career during reentry. It will help inform future coverage in my newsletter, College Inside: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

@charlottewest.bsky.social & @byjasongonzales.bsky.social won 1st place in the Top of the Rockies education feature-writing category for their Jan 2024 profile of David Carrillo, the first incarcerated professor in the country to teach students inside. www.opencampus.org/2025/04/07/o...

In my Documenting Carceral Injustice class Northwestern Undergraduate students collaborated with incarcerated students at Sheridan #Prison on short documentaries about their lives.

After the Alabama DOC banned key staff members from Auburn University from correctional facilities due to alleged security concerns in Aug, the college suspended its credit-bearing classes, effectively shutting down the state's only bachelor's program in prison. www.opencampus.org/2025/04/04/a...

I've never written or read so many stories that include sentences that start with "It is unclear what......" (fill in the blank)

Canada’s federal prisons are introducing the internet to their prisoners for the first time, in a limited way geared to providing some inmates with educational courses and even virtual reality www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...

Students from the Faculty of Law at the Catholic University of Malawi have been challenged to assist prisoners who cannot afford legal representation for their cases malawi24.com/2025/04/02/c...

Join Study and Struggle & the Utah Prison Education Project for a screening of "Calls From Home," plus a powerful panel on the fight to Free The Mississippi Five. Don’t miss a special one-night-only art exhibit by Mississippi Five art fellow Corey Devon Arthur.

Please share this call on your networks about prison and/or education www.ucu.org.uk/media/14950/...

Illinois - Inside Cook County Jail, DePaul students learn alongside incarcerated peers www.wbez.org/wbez-news/20...

Eastern Michigan University gives incarcerated students platform to present research projects 12 students in College in Prison program to present www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2...

Incarcerated students are often released before earning their degree. But reenrolling to finish can be complicated, especially with other post-release priorities. We’re working with @publicpolicylab.bsky.social, SUNY OHEP & @nycopportunity.bsky.social to better support them:

NASFAA will host its 2nd annual #PrisonEducationProgram (PEP) Convening June 4-7 in Washington, D.C. This event will explore strategic and practical approaches to best support college students who are incarcerated. Applications are due April 16: ow.ly/jTrZ50VpLoU

Appreciation to @EmersonCollege journalism students at @BeaconUpdate for their coverage of the Emerson Prison Initiative conference last week, highlighting the impact of college access for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people: berkeleybeacon.com/two-day-emer...

BU's Sargent College is pioneering rehab for incarcerated older adults. Partnering with Middlesex Jail, faculty and students helped develop the Older Adult Re-Entry Unit (OAR), the nation’s first program combining specialized accommodations with rehab programming for those 55+.

Teaching incarcerated students is much like teaching any students, write @columbiauniversity.bsky.social scientists Tessa Montague and Shai Berman. Learn more about their experience teaching neuroscience at Sing Sing: tinyurl.com/yfkyjfej

Our prisons and higher ed reporter @charlottewest.bsky.social will be chatting with @prisoncast.bsky.social on Sunday's special broadcast of Prisoncast! with our local partner @wbez.org. Tune in at 2 pm central for the two-hour show on wbez.org or your local Illinois public radio station.

Great. Columbia J-school students from abroad are being told to obey in advance by their dean. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/n...

Shai Berman and I wrote about our time teaching neuroscience in prison - one of the best experiences of my career. www.nature.com/articles/d41... Writing this was prompted by one of our students, Chris, bringing a copy of Nature to class, and asking for more journal recommendations... [1/4]

Literally every single 🔓 emoji you share on Mar 25 will donate a day of education. Post as many times as you can. We want to fill social with millions of 🔓 emojis. How many will you share? A hundred? A thousand? Sign up to join at unlockday.org #UnlockDay #Edovo

Somewhere on a desk in the federal Ed Dept building in Washington D.C. sits a pile of unopened mail from incarcerated student loan borrowers. The person responsible for opening them was among the FSA employees laid off in the past several weeks. www.opencampus.org/2025/03/21/h...

FYI - A judge stopped this administration from shutting down social security yesterday. They were planning to take the sensitive and private information and to shutter the agency. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

🚨 Government records are disappearing. Troves of public records and data continue to vanish overnight — weakening transparency and our ability to hold those in power accountable. This isn’t about politics. It’s about access to facts. And the consequences affect everyone.🧵

@anthropic.com's Claude AI is very helpful in brainstorming and outlining, but every time I look at the logo I see a cat's butt. I asked Claude about it and it told me that it was "not intended to resemble a cat's anatomy." But once you see what I'm talking about, you'll never be able to unsee it.

Studies terminated at NIH: -On reducing asthma from mold -On prenatal risks & screening -On statins influence on dementia -On the safety/risk of gender-affirming care -On how Covid vax outcomes & disparities -On improving HIV care -Training programs for the next generation of scientists

The Gilman Scholarship changed my life. I was able to do a public health study abroad in Argentina despite earning minimum wage. I’ve gone on to a multinational career in public health. Trump axed it, and Fulbright, leaving students in limbo, some abroad without the money they’re owed.

Talk about whiplash. In January I wrote a story about a PhD student's experiences with racial discrimination as a Black woman at UChicago. Today UChicago is under federal investigation over accusations relating to supposed preferential treatment of Black students. www.wbez.org/education/20...

The Trump administration is putting unprecedented pressure on America's universities. We want to help local newsrooms explain what's at stake for colleges in their communities. That's why we're launching Higher Ed Under Pressure. Read more: www.opencampus.org/higher-ed-un...

Columbia President email confirms DHS raid tonight in University housing (dorms?). Truly, get us all the fuck out of this place.

Unverified report of mass layoffs that would spell the end of the Fulbright program forever. This comes after a funding freeze left current participants broke and stranded abroad.

I'm posting this as a former Fulbright to Sweden. The year I spent as a Fulbright scholar studying the welfare state at @stockholm-uni.bsky.social right after college radically altered my career path, including leading me to my current job as a journalist. This is atrocious.

JSTOR Access in Prison has now reached over 1 million incarcerated learners! Since 2007, we’ve worked to expand access to academic resources for students taking college courses while incarcerated. Read more about this milestone from @everylibrary.bsky.social: bit.ly/4i8GBIV

How #math skills can empower people who are in #prison — and help them land jobs after they’re released. hechingerreport.org/math-can-be-... via @hechingerreport.org #education

Virginia lawmakers advanced a bipartisan prison education reform bill, but Senate revisions altered its original scope. A compromise was eventually reached in a conference committee. By @stacycns.bsky.social Read more: www.pilotonline.com/2025/02/25/v...

We love how Stephanie Wang of @luminafoundation.bsky.social described us during @sxswedu.com: "Open Campus is like a power-up in Super Mario Brothers. You're instantly supercharged...to cover higher education because of their deep expertise and understanding of the context across different states."

Several of the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates I’ve worked with are gone now: One focused on women in physics One focused on community college students One focused on formerly incarcerated students All cancelled for 2025. www.science.org/content/arti...

Join Open Campus this week in Austin at #SXSWEDU. @charlottewest.bsky.social will be speaking on Monday at 2:30 and @shebel.bsky.social will be speaking on Thursday at 10 am. We hope to see you there! www.opencampus.org/2025/01/14/o...

I'm a huge fan of Kwaneta Harris and her sharp writing from inside her Texas prison cell. This latest by her on @opencampus.org is on point: "The “celebration” of Black History Month entails posters of MLK, George Washington Carver, and Rosa Parks plastered around the education building...

HB 2158 to improve prison education requires a functional literacy program for inmates testing below 12th-grade level to include evidence-based literacy instruction, Pell grant support, competitive teacher salaries, annual public reporting on enrollment and waitlists for prison education programs.

Wow, the federal Education Department just launched a DEI snitch line: www.ed.gov/about/news/p...