Author: Sarah Spinuzzi
Students are ordering iced coffee again, and it’s leaving rings of condensation on the tables and benches. Others are flocking to the CAE for the first time to seek help with research papers while others hit the pool before and after class. The haze has returned to its proper place over downtown and everyone is reminded that summer is approaching. With the break coming up quickly, many students are searching frantically for that summer internship that will make them the best candidate for graduate school, or the best candidate for a high-paying job. What most do not consider when searching for the perfect internship is that they might be exploited and used for free labor.
Privileged college students of small and large schools alike generally do not see themselves as victims or as an exploited group of workers. New York Times Op-Ed contributor Ross Perlin recently brought this issue into the limelight, hoping that it would get students thinking before jumping into an unpaid position. Perlin’s article criticizes college campuses for not only being complicit in, but also for encouraging and advertising unpaid internships often for for-profit companies. Perlin said, “Far from being the liberal, pro-labor bastions of popular image, universities are often blind to the realities of work in contemporary America,” he stated.
He could not be more correct. Students often not only work for free, but also pay to work. To receive credit for some internships, you have to buy the credit from your school, not to mention the transportation costs associated with commuting to work.
Not all students are financially able to work for free, and most are not able to pay to work. Oftentimes students seek internships that are located in cities far from the intern’s home and, consequently, parents will have to pay to house the intern for the summer. Additionally, basic living expenses such as food and household supplies add to the cost of this seemingly great opportunity. Perhaps the largest cost of the unpaid internship is the foregone summer wages and the valuable time of an intelligent graduate or undergraduate student. This is not a financially feasible situation for many students, but they feel pressured to partake in this nonsense in order to compete with their peers.
Desperate for experience in a specialized field, desperate for a job that is not a “dead-end” at 21 Choices, desperate for something valuable to put on a resume, students will do anything. Many will argue that it is a “foot in the door” or that they are working their way up the ladder of success. Being at the bottom is something everyone has to do, and it is never fun. However, the it-sucks-but-you-have-to-do-it mentality is an all-too-familiar alibi of the exploited worker. These arguments are the same arguments used by all workers with low wages or poor conditions and hours. Being an unpaid intern does not generally connote exploitation or a poor work environment at all. In fact, it is not always the case that unpaid interns are used or exploited at all, but it is certainly a common occurrence.
It is important to weigh all the costs and benefits before one agrees to work without compensation. Before making arrangements to live far from home at deep financial costs, students need to know who they are working for and what they will gain. Paying someone to bring them their coffee or do mindless work all summer is not climbing the ladder of success; it’s just getting screwed.
Sarah Spinuzzi is a sophomore philosophy major. She can be reached at spinuzzi@oxy.edu
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