Formerly incarcerated, homeless, at 43, UC Berkeley senior graduates with top honor

BERKELEY, Calif. - He was once a part of a revolving system that took him in and out of jail, with stints of homelessness and days of just trying to survive, and on Saturday, 43-year-old Charles Long Jr. marked a proud, major milestone in his life, not just graduating from one of the most prestigious universities in the world, but receiving his diploma with the highest honor awarded to a graduating senior at UC Berkeley.

Long was recognized as this year’s University Medalist. Candidates of the long-running award must have achieved a grade point average of at least 3.96. "A medal and $2,500 are awarded to the most distinguished graduating senior on the UC Berkeley campus," according to the university. 

What we know:

With a 4.0 GPA, the sociology and social welfare double major was chosen for the honor as he was recognized as an exceptional student who brought and used his past and his life experiences into his academic journey as he worked to make an impact since his first day stepping onto campus.

Receiving the award, Long delivered a powerful and emotional speech before about 7,000 graduating students, their family and friends at California Memorial Stadium.

His past an ‘asset’

He began his address by talking about what it means to be an "organic intellectual," referencing Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, who introduced the concept in his writings from a prison cell. 

"Organic intellectuals are thinkers, scholars and activists grown from the soil of the communities they come from. They don't study to escape their communities, but to understand, represent and serve them," Long said, adding, "They turn experience into insight, insight into action and action into a better world."

He looked out into the crowd and said that he stood among many organic intellectuals.

"Your experience at Berkeley has always come with a responsibility to the families and the communities that you come from. I see you. I see all of y'all," he told his fellow graduates, who burst into cheers. 

Long said he once believed that his past, his experiences were ones that didn’t allow him to step into a space like Berkeley. But during his time at the university, he’s learned otherwise.

"When I arrived here, I carried a story that I thought would disqualify me from places like this," Long said as he choked up and got emotional. "Now that story is one of my greatest assets."

The backstory:

Long grew up in the Bay Area and even from a young age, he said he would always identify UC Berkeley as his dream school if he could attend any university. 

When he was 1, Long’s dad went to prison. He told UC Berkeley News that his early memories were marked with images of his father calling from prison and his mother in a drug rehabilitation program that placed him and his siblings in foster care.  

And even then, perhaps because of those experiences, he knew what he wanted to be.

Long told UC Berkeley News that when he was 5, during a conversation with his dad who was calling from prison, he shared that he wanted to be a social worker one day.

"He reminds me of this all the time to this day," Long said.     

But it would be a circuitous path to get there. 

In and out of jail

An arrest when he was 18, placed him on a cycle that would be hard to break from. 

The arrest, he said, happened in Milpitas the day before he was set ship off for the Navy. He was leaving an area not far from where a fight had broken out. Police wrongly assumed that he was a part of the fight and arrested him on suspicion of felony assault. 

"I thought they were going to let me go once they realized that I was not at the fight," Long told UC Berkeley News.  

But he wasn't cleared of the charges, and prosecutors instead offered him a deal to plead guilty to a lesser charge.   

While Long did not want to take the deal, he had seen what had happened to his father when he was given an option to take a one-year jail sentence after his arrest. 

His dad decided to fight the case against him and ended up with a much longer prison term. 

"I had been in jail so long, when they offered a plea deal to let me out, I just took it," Long said in a video that was shared at the graduation.  

Long was ultimately sentenced to two years in prison and five years of parole. 

He maintains his innocence and said, "Once you're in the system, it’s really hard to get out."

At one period during his time out of jail, he experienced homelessness in San Jose after his family moved away from the Bay Area to Las Vegas. 

Living in encampments, Long would be subject to homeless sweeps. "Being associated with other people with criminal records, or merely living in an area of suspected drug use, were violations of his parole," UC Berkeley News wrote.

This cycle continued until he reevaluated his life with the birth of his daughter. The dad said he wanted to live as an example for his child.

"I don’t want to just tell her to chase her dreams. I have to show her," he said.  

Back to school

At age 37, he went back to school attending community college at Moreno Valley College in Riverside County, and then he eventually transferred.

Long was 40 years old in the fall of 2022 when he began his journey at UC Berkeley. 

It was on the Cal campus he entrenched himself in his work and studies in policing and violence.

Helping those incarcerated 

Before even starting at the university, one of his professors at community college told him about Berkeley Underground Scholars, a campus program aimed at offering support to formerly incarcerated students and those currently in custody. 

Long would also volunteer for Teach in Prison, a student-run program in which students tutor incarcerated men at San Quentin. 

And he also worked to mentor young people in juvenile halls.

Standout scholar 

Continuing lecturer Laleh Behbehanian in Berkeley's Department of Sociology described Long as a standout scholar whose intellect is grounded in his commitment to help others.

What they're saying:

"Charles is by far one of the most outstanding students I have ever had the pleasure of working with during my 23 years of teaching," Behbehanian shared with KTVU in an email. 

She also praised the hands-on work he’s done to help those who have been in the criminal system. 

"He is exceptionally brilliant and passionately committed to supporting his fellow formerly incarcerated students, particularly through his extensive work with Berkeley Underground Scholars," Behbehanian said.

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She said as part of his honors thesis research, Long looked at the profound effects of tutoring and other mentoring programs in prisons.

"His work focuses on how this kind of volunteer work in prisons has the potential of fueling what he calls ‘empathy recovery.’ He supplemented this with further research mapping out the higher educational programs operating in prisons across the nation."

What's next:

Long plans to continue his work in restorative justice research and programs. 

And now that he's graduated, he wants to take a gap year and travel to Africa, with plans to further his academic journey and apply to Ph.D. programs. 

More than a degree

In his address, Long told his audience that he leaves UC Berkley with more than a degree. He leaves with a powerful and inspiring sense of hope to make the world better. 

"Hope that people and institutions can work together to serve the people," he said. 

But he also cautioned about letting their education give them a false sense of certainty. He said he learned early on that a Berkeley education does not exempt him from the systemic societal challenges that have always been there.

"During my first year here, a police encounter at a social justice conference left me face down against the concrete with a shattered tooth," he recounted in his speech. "The empty space in my smile is a constant reminder that credentials alone cannot protect us from injustices."

‘Make something grow’

And the 2026 University medalist challenged his fellow graduates to use the soil of the communities they come from, the tools they've gained from their education and "make something grow."

He challenged his classmates to forge forward being humble, curious, brave and ready to act.

"Whatever you do with the opportunity Berkeley has placed in your hands, let it be great. Not because it makes you important but because it makes life better for someone else," he said. "Let your work build doors where someone else only saw walls."

Shared responsibility 

And he closed with a message of unity and action in a world where differences make us who we are.

"The world does not need us to agree on everything. It does need us to remember that we belong to one another," the graduate said.

He described a shared responsibility that they all carry.

"We share a responsibility to leave people more free, more safe, more seen and more loved than we found them," Long said. "And when doors close around you, because some will, don’t be afraid to build your own. Then hold that door open so someone else can walk through it."