“Many SIJS kids, like Sonia, lived their entire lives dreaming of this kind of freedom, which those of us born in the United States take for granted. They deserve, as all children do, the chance to be children,” Aronson writes.

Read her full editorial on Common Dreams.

The 20 faculty members in the 2025-26 cohort will attend four sessions during the 2025-26 academic year and will be paired with a journalism mentor who provides one-on-one editing and coaching. Fellows will publish two or more op-ed pieces during the program.

Congratulations to all of the faculty who were selected for this year’s program:

Chicago

• Veerasathpurush Allareddy, professor and department head of orthodontics, College of Dentistry
• Daylan Dufelmeier, director, Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood Health Partnerships
• Giamila Fantuzzi, professor and associate head, department of kinesiology and nutrition, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Jeni Hebert-Beirne, professor, Division of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health

Springfield

• Akash Belsare, assistant professor, department of English and modern languages

Urbana-Champaign

• Luvell Anderson, professor, department of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Lauren Aronson, clinical professor, director of Immigration Law Clinic, College of Law
• Jose Atiles, assistant professor, department of sociology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Maria Bonn, associate professor and director, master of science in library and information science, School of Information Sciences
• Yulanda Curtis, clinical professor, College of Law
• Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson, associate professor, department of philosophy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Rachel Hoopsick, assistant professor, department of health and kinesiology, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Kathryn Huff, associate professor, department of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering, and director of advanced reactors and fuel cycles group, The Grainger College of Engineering
• Fatima Husain, professor, department of speech and hearing science, and associate dean, College of Applied Health Sciences
• Martin Persson, assistant professor, department of accountancy, Gies College of Business
• Mary Phillips, associate professor, department of African American studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Koustuv Saha, assistant professor, department of computer science, Siebel School of Computing and Data Science
• Bobby Smith II, associate professor, department of African American studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Haileleol Tibebu, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences
• Travis Wagner, assistant professor, School of Information Sciences

“Oh, my God, it was so emotional, like everybody was crying,” Krishnamani said with a laugh when recalling that moment.

The lead-up to that big, emotional moment began in August of 2023, on the first day of Professor Lauren Aronson’s Immigration Law Clinic class, when Becerra and Krishnamani were assigned to work on a case fighting against the removal of three citizens of Nicaragua. The clients are a family who fled the violence of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s dictatorial regime, with one member of the family suffering from persecution so severe government officials shot him while participating in a peaceful protest. 

When the students took on the case, Professor Aronson had completed an initial application, but the rest of the work was their responsibility. After their clients’ perilous journey to the United States, through several countries over almost four years, it was of foremost importance for the students to gain the clients’ trust. 

“Initially, our job was just building rapport, explaining to them what the purpose of the clinic is, how we’re going to help them, giving them background on the case, that sort of thing,” Becerra said.

From there, the clinicians had the task of building the case and establishing credibility of the clients. No small task, to be sure, made a little more difficult by the additional work required from their other classes.

“We had to write a brief, draft separate affidavits, get a bunch of documentation and a bunch of research together…our filing ended up being over 700 pages,” Krishnamani explained.

The duo did a remarkable job, and their “over-preparedness,” in Becerra’s words, helped them successfully win asylum for their clients and keep the family together in the United States (since arriving, they had added another child to their family—an American citizen), and away from the persecution they faced in their native country. Both students were appreciative of all Professor Aronson had done to help them, crediting her with a willingness to answer any question but to otherwise let them learn through experience.

“I can’t believe that you can graduate from law school without working on a case. To me, that’s kind of crazy,” Becerra said, stressing how useful he found the clinic opportunity to be in his education. 

As children of immigrants, both Becerra and Krishnamani cited their background as one motivation for taking part in the Immigration Law Clinic. For Becerra, who would like to continue working in immigration law after graduation, this was also a chance to experience the work in advance; for Krishnamani, on the other hand, it was a chance to experience litigation and find an area in which he may like to direct his pro bono work in the future. 

“I would just encourage anyone to go out for clinic. It’s really informative but also really fun to work with several different clients,” Krishnamani said. “It kind of reinvigorated me on how important this work is.”

Read the full interview online.