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Student Involvement

Working at the Institute is exciting and enriching. Here’s what students who have worked with us are saying:

• Rachel Seiler, 2007
• Hadar Sayfan, 2007
• Jessica Goldings, 2006
• Rebecca Gedalius, 2006
• Hadas Kroitoru, 2006
• Noah Browne, 2003

Rachel Seiler, 2007
Major: Neuroscience

"I love working here. Being a science major you wouldn’t expect it, but this has been one of the most beneficial jobs I’ve ever had. It has opened up my mind to experiences, insights, and issues that I had never really thought about before. It’s made me more aware of what’s going on, and given me the opportunity to help out. It’s been a very eye-opening experience and I really like it.

"I love working with the Institute staff. It’s fun; it keeps me entertained and on my toes. Working with people who are enthusiastic and crazy about what they’re doing makes me feel more passionate about what I’m doing to help."

Rachel Seiler, Institute research assistant, organizes volumes of research for the Institute-Washington Post collaboration on an April 17, 2006 investigative article into alleged oversight lapses at the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and Boeing.

Hadar Sayfan, 2007
Major: International and Global Studies
Minor: Legal Studies

Hadar Sayfan, Institute research assistant, interviews former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani, author of Standing Alone in Mecca, March 23, 2005, the day of Nomani's Institute-sponsored presentation at Brandeis.

"Working at the Institute is a great opportunity for anyone interested in politics, journalism, women's studies, human rights, or law. I feel a sense of purpose working at the Institute. The Institute's mission of addressing issues ignored by the mainstream media is extremely important and I'm personally thrilled to be involved. Academically, the legal research I've done for the institute has been interesting and exciting and … I have a set of unique skills that I learned in a very hands-on manner. I'm sure that my time working for such an innovative and progressive organization will only help me in the future. The Institute has offered me a chance to be proactive and analytic in a way that goes beyond academia."

Jessica Goldings, 2006
Major: Politics
Minors: Journalism and Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Now: Research Assistant, Project for Excellence in Journalism

Jessica Goldings, Institute research assistant meets Ben Bradlee, former Washington Post Executive Editor, when he spoke at an Institute-sponsored event at Brandeis University in 2004, for the thirtieth anniversary of President Richard Nixon's resignation under threat of impeachment.

"Working for Florence Graves at the Institute, I developed the kind of close personal relationship with a mentor that Brandeis prides itself on. It was wonderful to work so closely with an individual who cared so much about my well-being, and who always offered her unconditional support.

"Just as important, I gained valuable professional insight into the field of journalism, which ultimately influenced me to pursue journalism as a career. Here I learned that investigative reporting offers hard, fast facts that put important news issues into perspective by adding depth, clarity, and context. I learned always  to question authority and frame my arguments in a way that will enable the public to benefit. Journalists have an obligation to take vast amounts of complex material and process it into easily digestible formats. This requires much hard work (including countless interviews, hours of research, and searching for obscure, hard-to-find statistics), but it is our responsibility, so that the public can more easily make sense of significant issues that affect them daily.

"Working here has influenced me personally as well. I had been skeptical about the average individual’s ability to influence politics, since it’s so heavily guarded by red tape and those in power. But seeing the type of work Pam Cytrynbaum does with the Innocence Project gave me faith in journalism’s power to promote fundamental, positive political change. And reading some of E.J. Graff’s interview transcripts for the Gender & Justice Project, I was shocked by some of the sexual harassment occurring to innocent working women throughout the U.S.; I had always assumed the laws would protect me. I know now that, as journalists, we can make an impact in our democratic society by investigating injustices and standing up for what we believe in. The Institute has brought a whole new meaning to social justice and academic excellence—two of the tenets on which Brandeis University prides itself."

Click here to learn more about Jessica Goldings' journalism successes since graduation.

Rebecca Gedalius, 2006
Majors: Politics, Sociology, English
Minors: Legal Studies, Social Justice & Social Policy
Now: Paralegal, Outten & Golden LLP

"Working to help Prof. Pam Cytrynbaum develop the Institute’s Innocence Project, I've learned a great deal about how our system creates opportunities for wrongful conviction—that a confession is not necessarily a case-clincher, that how investigations are structured [by law enforcement authorities] allows other suspects to be shut out early on, and that information is often presented to juries in misleading ways. Working here has taught me to question everything, even what seems obvious or to be a given. I think through situations more carefully, playing things out in my mind to find the snags. This is also making me a better planner in my everyday life.

"Investigating a real case with real consequences has made me grow as a person because I can see my value. Working here all year has given me responsibility, an unbiased commitment to the person in prison, an opportunity to do good now, and a chance to work with some great people. And working here is making me consider being a prosecutor, ironically enough.  More conscientious and educated prosecutors will make for a better system even more than defense attorneys, because if the prosecutors are fair, then justice is more likely to prevail."

Rebecca Gedalius, a member of the Institute's Justice Brandeis Innocence Project research team, meets Sister Helen Prejean during the Brandeis Day of Innocence, March 2006.

Hadas Kroitoru, 2006
Major: International and Global Studies and Anthropology
Minor: Journalism

"Bringing professionals and students together to produce quality work is extremely unique. The academic world has so many resources that can support journalistic pursuits; this program really harnesses those resources and that energy."

Hadas Kroitoru, Institute research assistant, helps research an investigative article about the failures of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that appeared on the front page of The Washington Post, April 17, 2006.

Noah Browne, 2003
Major: Politics and Sociology

"As a politics and sociology major, I didn’t have any experience in investigative journalism, but I had an interest in research. And research I did. I examined the usage of the term ‘illegitimate child’ in popular media, culled Supreme Court case law, and even received research credit in The Boston Globe Magazine for a remarkable cover story Florence Graves wrote on Professor Anita Hill.

"Working for an investigative journalist gave me an opportunity to burst the proverbial Brandeis bubble. Caught up in the haze of academia, it’s sometimes easy to forget there is a real world outside the confines of campus; it can even be hard to find the time to read a newspaper. But in participating in the process of putting together a feature story, I put aside, for a time, the works of Plato and Milton, and researched something that people would actually read. It was thrilling. Having a hand, even a small one, in a piece of work that made it far beyond the eyes of my professors was an invaluable experience.

Institute Director Florence Graves and her research assistant Noah Browne stand outside the National Press Club where Graves received an award from The National Women's Political Caucus for best newspaper article published in 2003, "The Real Anita Hill," which appeared in The Boston Globe Magazine. Browne did in-depth research for that article.

"Working with Florence Graves has had a tremendous influence on my intellectual and personal growth. I began to understand that the truest end of investigative journalism is not creating bylines, but creating change. She showed me that, at its best, investigative journalism tells the story that no one else tells, and may ultimately pave the way for social and political progress. That is an invaluable and enduring lesson. I urge students to take advantage of the opportunities that the Institute offers to transcend the classroom."