Jessica Neptune

Historian of Carceral State. @BPIBard Director of National Engagement, Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow Obama FIRC, @bardcollege & @uchicagohistory alum. Views my own.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

A huge highlight of my fall was leading this lecture series and getting to hear from such a preeminent group of scholars of the carceral state! Thanks to everyone who joined and made it possible including a guest appearance from @iamdarrenmack!

[Bard Prison Initiative @BPIBard]

This week closed out the Making of the Carceral State fall course lecture series at BPI's Bard Microcollege for Just Community Leadership in Harlem. It was an amazing opportunity for students to hear directly from leading historians whose books they were reading in class.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

This is a terrible trend for college-in-prison and for incarcerated readers who spend a lot of time in the footnotes and don’t have internet access.

[Jacob Geller @yacobg42]

Finished The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates today and found it generally excellent but this a strange choice- can't help but feel that in a couple years I'll have a book with a defunct url and no bibliography.

[Natasha Lightfoot 🇦🇬 @njlightfoot]

JOB: The UMBC History Department is seeking a Historian of Vast Early America at either the Advanced Assistant or Associate Professor level. Application due 9/27/24.

https://t.co/OqdkWUt7pg

[Alec Karakatsanis @equalityAlec]

THREAD. Last night, the White House quietly sent out a press release notifying reporters that Biden would be seeking $37 billion for, among other things, 100,000 new cops. This is one of the most dangerous developments imaginable.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@mfkantor @UNC_Press Yes! Congrats!!

[Michael Harriot @michaelharriot]

Too often, when talking about the violence of Reconstruction, we focus on what whites did to Black people.

But what about the white community?

Well on this day, 150 years ago, SC finally addressed a problem that had plagued the state for years.

White on white crime

A thread

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

… teaching some of the most engaged, hard working, curious and exciting students you’ll ever teach. If you think this 1-2 yr chair is right for you, and you have a significant history of teaching excellence at the college level, reach out and stay tuned. Plz spread the word! 🙏🏼

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

Really excited to see this search get underway in the fall. The move towards a permanent BPI faculty & endowed chairs is a major milestone in the field of college in prison but also a really fun opportunity to engage some of the nation’s best college teachers to come teach @ BPI

[Bard Prison Initiative @BPIBard]

Today BPI announced the establishment of the Justus Rosenberg Chair for the Study of the Thought and Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
This rotating faculty position will become a central curricular feature of our college. Read the full announcement: https://t.co/ilc5dpqMDu

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@acort1222 @BPIBard That’s not how we treat college for anyone else. Because it would be absurd. But they don’t think college in prison is college. They think it’s treatment.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

What’s even more frustrating is the idea college in prison needs to prove itself in these ways in the first place.
Yes all these studies are deeply flawed and mostly dumb. But it’s also stupid and frankly racist and classist to think we need more and better studies. 🧵

[Jennifer Doleac @jenniferdoleac]

What is even more frustrating about this case is that the authors say an RCT would be unethical in this context because there's so much other evidence that in-prison college programs reduce recidivism. 🤯

(1) That is not true. All studies on this topic use the same flawed design as this study. We have *no idea* whether in-prison college programming is a good investment.

(2) RCTs are not the only research design that provide causal estimates. Are there eligibility cutoffs? Phased rollouts in implementation? You can use those!

(3) Randomization is often the most fair way to ration access to a program that is too small to serve everyone who wants to get in.

(4) An RCT on this topic is ongoing in PA (by @tahamonster), so thankfully we'll have some useful results soon.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@acort1222 @BPIBard Of all the many ways education could make an impact or change one’s trajectory or be the thing the one reruns to again and again in life, the researcher decides what matters. Everything else that might have mattered to you about your time in college? Irrelevant.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@DavidJFoord @nhannahjones We are only looking for future potential, capacity, and a readiness to put in hard work. The results are visible in the Ken Burns produced film College Behind Bars. Suggests a radical new way to think about who college is for and where it can lead. https://t.co/5ANuk8t3rq

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@DavidJFoord @nhannahjones Merit is a totally flawed concept in the first place. Metrics of past performance measure past access which is a reflection mostly of privilege & luck that then get reproduced.
In my work w college in prison we’ve developed admissions that is disinterested in any past performance

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

The admissions process at @BPIBard, not just in prison but also at the #BardMicrocolleges, disregards all metrics of past performance and only seeks out future potential, capacity, & readiness to put in serious work. Forces a total reconsideration of what we mean by “merit.” 2/2

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

The problem is, the idea of merit is inherently flawed far beyond test score bias. Any measure of past performance and attainment is really a measure of past access and therefore a reflection of past privilege and luck that then gets reproduced. 1/2

[David Foord @DavidJFoord]

I've never met a serious person who doesn't just want the top universities to select based purely on merit... I'd be completely happy with it being 100% based on their academic history and attainment and everything else being left out. It's the top of the top, those spots should be for our very brightest.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@AFelishAdams Let’s go!!!! 🎉🎉💖💖

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@acort1222 @BPIBard … what I do very much appreciate was the extent to which Vera’s researchers consulted with practitioners and took feedback seriously. Something, frankly, the US Dept of Education could learn from.

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

@acort1222 @BPIBard Thanks for sharing, @acort1222 and good on them for speaking up! As much as I resent the ongoing urge to keep studying “if it works” and believe that CIP is subjected to study in ways not typical to other examples of increased public funding of higher ed…

[Jessica Neptune @JessicaNeptune]

If you are in a position to give today, please consider adding @BPIBard to your #GivingTuesday2023 donations. 🙏🏼

[Bard Prison Initiative @BPIBard]

Join us today as we celebrate #GIVINGTUESDAY the National Day of Giving - your generosity makes an outsized impact at BPI. Please consider making a gift today. https://t.co/9qoFQl85KB

#ISupportBPI

[Bard Prison Initiative @BPIBard]

Fall 2024 admissions are now open for the Bard Baccalaureate, BPI's full-scholarship BA program for adults on Bard's main campus. Learn more at https://t.co/9s3bePI7o7, or join us for an upcoming info session on Zoom: Sun, Dec 3 at 7:00 pm: https://t.co/CiULDavbBh 1/4