New endowed fund will permanently support paid internships for the next generation of student journalists and press freedom advocates
The Student Press Law Center is proud to announce the establishment of the Rosalind G. Stark Student Press Freedom Internship Fund, a permanent endowment to support paid internships for law and journalism students in honor of longtime SPLC board member and former board chair Rosalind “Roz” Stark.
Rosalind’s son and longtime Student Press Law Center supporter, Andrew F. Stark, made this generous donation to honor her contributions to the field and establish an internship program in her name.
“Through her dedication, leadership and decades of service, Roz Stark has shaped the past, present and future of the Student Press Law Center. She was the driving force behind our original endowment campaign and the inspiration for this one,” SPLC Executive Director Gary Green said. “Thanks to Andy’s extraordinary generosity, we can give the next generation of student journalists and press freedom advocates real-world experience, the kind that shaped so many of our past interns’ careers. This endowment isn’t just a tribute to Roz — it’s an investment in the students who will carry her legacy forward.”
The gift will ensure that SPLC can consistently offer the kind of hands-on, paid opportunities that have long introduced emerging journalists and advocates to the front lines of student press freedom work. Past interns serve as leaders in a variety of fields, including as media lawyers and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists.
The Student Press Law Center will hire the first intern for this program this fall. Applications are now open.
“I always viewed the SPLC as ‘playing the long game,’ in that the student journalists of today will become the standard bearers for the essential role freedoms of speech and press play in the health of democracy,” Andrew Stark said. “In the same vein, a permanent training opportunity will promote the long-lasting endurance of the SPLC’s critical mission.”
Rosalind Stark’s connection to the Student Press Law Center spans decades. She served on the board of directors and later as board chair, guiding the organization through a pivotal period of growth.
Stark is perhaps best known within the Student Press Law Center community for chairing the “Tomorrow’s Voices” endowment campaign from 2005 to 2007, during Mark Goodman’s tenure as executive director. As campaign chair, she helped lead the effort to raise a $3.75 million endowment — the first of its kind in SPLC’s history — that was supported in part by a $1.25 million challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The endowment has been pivotal to SPLC’s sustainability, allowing it to mature from an organization that fought for survival each year to a stable, growing resource for the student journalism community.
“SPLC was built on two sturdy pillars: Mark Goodman and Roz Stark. There simply is no viable, modern, successful SPLC without their transformative efforts. Roz Stark is every nonprofit executive’s dream board member: Everyone knows her, everyone loves her, she is indefatigably generous with her time, and she is endlessly wise,” former SPLC executive director Frank LoMonte said. “It’s so fitting that generations of future SPLC interns will carry the Stark internship on their résumés, because Andy and Roz have always deeply understood that launching young people into careers in journalism and advocacy was foundational to the identity and purpose of the SPLC. It is gratifying to know that, thanks to the Stark family’s foresight and generosity, there will always be a financially strong SPLC to speak up when student voices are unheard.”
Stark and her husband, Martin, and her son, Andrew, have remained steady supporters of SPLC’s mission in the years since, and Roz has continued to be a familiar and trusted voice within the organization’s board and donor community.
“I have known about SPLC’s work ever since the mid 1990s, when I was director of the Newspaper of America Foundation,” Roz Stark said. “Each year NAA Foundation gave grants to SPLC because we knew how critical it was — and is — that young people understand and cherish the freedoms afforded by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Later, when I served on SPLC’s board of directors, I learned about and was impressed by the dedication of its staff and the many practicing attorneys who worked for the organization pro bono to defend students’ rights. As his mother, I am profoundly honored by my son’s generosity and thoughtfulness in creating this internship in my name.”
As the Student Press Law Center implements a new three-year strategic plan, formalizing a consistent internship program is key to scaling its resources to meet the demands for SPLC’s legal and advocacy services.
About the Internship Endowment
Interns funded by this program may help with the Legal Hotline, communicate with our grassroots New Voices coalitions to push for student press freedom legislation, or assist with journalism and communications pieces about the state of the student press and SPLC’s work with student journalists.
Gifts to the Rosalind G. Stark Student Press Freedom Internship Fund can be made by visiting splc.org/donate/RozStark or contacting the development team at giving@splc.org or 202-785-5450. Anyone interested in other opportunities to support the Student Press Law Center’s work, including through named opportunities, can reach out to Development Director Elizabeth Dickson.
About the Student Press Law Center
The Student Press Law Center is the nation’s only legal organization devoted exclusively to defending and advancing the free press rights of student journalists. Since 1974, we have helped students and their educators navigate the law, strengthen their reporting and stand up for press freedom. Our legal support, education and advocacy empower student journalists to report freely and courageously. Stay updated by subscribing at splc.org/newsletter.