Editorial : Aid for unpaid internships incredibly important

The Glavin Grants, set up by former magazine professor Bill Glavin, who died last May, address an incredibly important need among media and publishing students: unpaid internships.

This summer, the first handful of students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will receive the awards, which will help them pay for living expenses in New York City while they carry out unpaid magazine internships. But the rising popularity and necessity of taking unpaid internships is not a dilemma reserved for media students. Library studies, music industry, literature and publishing, public service or policy students all face the prevalence of unpaid internships in their fields.

In many instances, these internships are located in cities with high standards of living, such as New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. And though students and universities can decry the system as illegal and unfair, taking these uncompensated positions is the reality for students who want to excel in their industry.

The system certainly favors young professionals who come from money and can afford not to work for months at a time. Syracuse University’s University Senate is looking into the need for drafting an internship policy. The Glavin Grants, set up by a man who spent his life immersed in the magazine industry and teaching it, highlight the necessity in giving highly talented students at an economic disadvantage these opportunities.

As SU looks into changing its internship policy, attracting more donations and scholarships to help students pay for unpaid internships, like the Glavin Grants and the Mark and Pearle Clements Internship Awards, should be among the committee’s suggestions.