The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is accepting applications for interns for the spring 2024 semester. We want creative, motivated, and committed Columbia and/or Barnard students to join us in the defense of the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age. You’ll get to contribute to ground-breaking First Amendment research and communication.
About Us
The Knight First Amendment Institute defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education. We promote a system of free expression that is open and inclusive, that broadens and elevates public discourse, and that fosters creativity, accountability, and effective self-government.
Since its establishment in 2016, the Institute has filed precedent-setting litigation, undertaken major interdisciplinary research initiatives, and become an influential voice in debates about the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age. Its active litigation docket includes cutting-edge cases relating to transparency, surveillance, and social media. Through its research program, the Institute publishes widely read essays on topics including emerging threats to the system of free expression, the meaning of self-government in the era of large-scale data collection, and how the law should respond to lies and disinformation. It has also hosted public events on new technology and public discourse, data journalism and the law, the First Amendment and inequality, whistleblowers, and national-security journalism.
What You'll Do
Your primary responsibility as an intern will be to support our research and communications programs. You’ll work alongside the Institute’s staff and legal externs on all aspects of our programs, including research, data management, communications, and public education. Our current projects span a wide range of issues, including free speech on social media, government surveillance, intermediary liability, government transparency, the rights of whistleblowers, the right of journalists to protect their sources, encryption, and machine speech.
Qualifications
The internship is open to current Columbia University or Barnard College students who will have completed at least the first year of their undergraduate degree before the internship begins. Students enrolled in one of Columbia’s graduate schools are also invited to apply. Applicants should possess excellent research, writing, and communication skills, and have a strong interest in human rights principles and the freedoms of speech and the press in particular.
The internship is for up to 15 hours/week and the pay rate for the internship is $22.00/hour.
How to Apply
Send the following in an email with “Spring 2024 Internship” as the subject line to [email protected] by November 19th, 2023 at 11:59pm:
- a cover letter (one-page maximum) explaining your interest in the internship, including a description of any relevant work or personal experience,
- a resume,
- an official or unofficial transcript, and
- one or two writing samples (preferably research papers).