http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/05/05/faculty-to-vote-on-college-in-prison-initiative/ Twice-weekly student newspaper of Wesleyan University in Middletown. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:22:51 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://wesleyanargus.com/2009/05/05/faculty-to-vote-on-college-in-prison-initiative/comment-page-1/#comment-12789 Kenneth L Parker, Associate Professor, St Louis Univ. Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:00:40 +0000 http://wesleyanargus.com/?p=9837#comment-12789 I want to applaud the effort at Wesleyan University and wish you well. Saint Louis University began a pilot certificate program in 2008, and is working to develop a two year program that will be launched in 2010. One innovation that we have introduced into the project, has been to offer sections of courses to prison staff as well as prisoners. Because we are serving in a staff where fewer than 10% of the population has college degrees, we see this as a way to deal with the larger problem of placing prisons in economically deprived rural communities. It improves the staff's attitude toward the project (so that prison students can get to class!), and opens channels of communication in unexpected ways. Staff also have access to Pell grants and VA benefits, which may help finance the hard costs of the program. I am pleased to see that your program, like the Bard Prison Initiative, is student led. This bodes well for the future. Congratulations! I want to applaud the effort at Wesleyan University and wish you well. Saint Louis University began a pilot certificate program in 2008, and is working to develop a two year program that will be launched in 2010. One innovation that we have introduced into the project, has been to offer sections of courses to prison staff as well as prisoners. Because we are serving in a staff where fewer than 10% of the population has college degrees, we see this as a way to deal with the larger problem of placing prisons in economically deprived rural communities. It improves the staff's attitude toward the project (so that prison students can get to class!), and opens channels of communication in unexpected ways. Staff also have access to Pell grants and VA benefits, which may help finance the hard costs of the program. I am pleased to see that your program, like the Bard Prison Initiative, is student led. This bodes well for the future. Congratulations!

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