Incarcerated students' ability to access New York's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) has been restored in New York State after 26 years of a senseless and destructive ban. This victory is a long time in the making. With BPI's Senior Government Affairs Officer Dyjuan Tatro '18… Read More
BPI Blog
Tag: Education
TAP Fellow Opinion: Restoring Tuition Assistance for Incarcerated Students in New York
In her first State of the State address since taking office, New York Governor Kathy Hochul outlined an agenda that included repealing the 27-year ban on college tuition assistance, also known as TAP, for incarcerated students. In 1995, when the ban was first instituted, incarcerated… Read More
Announcing the Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership
Bard College Launches the Nation’s First Tuition-Free College Dedicated to Advocacy, Arts, and Sciences HARLEM, N.Y. — The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) has announced the launch of its third tuition-free microcollege, which will open in Harlem this fall. The Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership will… Read More
Webinar: The Historic Return of Pell Funding for Incarcerated Students and What Comes Next
On March 10th, George Chochos '10, Senior Federal Policy Associate at the Vera Institute of Justice; Rev. Vivian Nixon, Executive Director of College & Community Fellowship; and Max Kenner '01, Executive Director of BPI joined this webinar to discuss the historical restoration of Pell… Read More
#TurnOnTheTAPNY Legislative Briefing
On February 25th BPI joined with College and Community Fellowship and colleagues in the field of college-in-prison to discuss with legislators and staffers the importance of restoring eligibility for NY's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to incarcerated students in New York State. Click here to… Read More
Field Notes on Pandemic Teaching
This reflection by Delia Mellis '86 Director of Program and Faculty Development originally appeared in Places Journal has been reproduced below and can found in its entirety here. A Bard Prison Initiative student studying at the computer lab at Coxsackie Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in… Read More
Course Continuity
Last week BPI delivered 22 boxes of course material and supplies to the six prisons where we operate. Fortunately, students already had all of their course books for the semester. These new boxes included hundreds of individualized packets for students enrolled in 60 courses… Read More
Alumni Remembrances: The Greatest Lesson I Learned
This reflection by Joseph Alli ‘14 is part of the Community Voices: Remembrances series for the BPI Public Health Journal. Through the COVID-19 crisis, BPI is inviting alumni who have lost loved ones to author and post remembrances here on the BPI Blog. My name… Read More
Still Behind Bars: Education and the Meaning of Freedom – A Passover Haggadah Supplement
Dear Friends, In 2014, BPI created a Haggadah supplement in partnership with Rev. Vivian Nixon, Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts II, Bard President Leon Botstein, and author Anya Kamenetz. Over the years, we have been delighted by the response and, following many requests, are pleased… Read More