On National Intern Day, students everywhere are coming together to stand for fair, equitable internships. With this petition, we are urging American colleges and universities to do the following:

• End the promotion of unpaid and exploitative internships in their career centers, and urge employers to provide some kind of financial compensation to interns as a condition to share information about their internship program to their students.

We know that unpaid, unfair internships are not only a matter of unethical treatment, but are also perpetuating inequity across the lines of gender, race, education, and wealth.

In the spring of 2019, the National Association of Colleges and Employers analyzed the internship experiences of nearly 4,000 seniors across 470 member colleges and universities in America. According to this article by the Harvard Business Review, the survey, "looked at the differences between paid interns, unpaid interns, and those who hadn’t interned, as well as how certain identities were overrepresented or underrepresented compared to their sample size.

They found statistically significant disproportionalities across three main criteria — race, gender, and parent’s education:

• Black students made up 6.6% of the graduating students surveyed. However, only 6% of those with paid internships were Black (underrepresented) while Black students made up nearly 7.3% of unpaid internships (overrepresented).
• Hispanic and Latino students were more likely than any other racial group to have not had an internship by the time they graduated.
• Around 74% of those surveyed were women. Yet, women made up only 68% of paid interns and 81% of unpaid interns.
• First-generation students made up 22% of the respondents but represented only 19% of paid interns. More than one-quarter of these students had never interned.

The survey also found that people with paid internships perform better in job fairs and end up with more job offers. Additionally, students who had never had an internship received the same number of job offers as unpaid interns."

According to NACE, 60 percent of employers expressed preference for hiring applicants with internships on their resume according to one survey, with 90 percent of employers saying students should have one or two internships before they graduate (NACE). With barriers to entry for unpaid internships, those students who can’t afford to take these opportunities on are put at a disadvantage compared to their peers who are.

Right now, there are millions of summer interns working around the world. Internships, which are considered fundamental to the professional development of students and a preferred mechanism of workforce preparedness by employers, must be fair, equitable, and just. We are missing out on key talent and leadership of tomorrow because millions of students are being kept out of opportunities that could change the the trajectory of their life and career.

For this reason, we ask that if you are a student interested in furthering this fight, you email the following to the leaders of your college or university’s career center:

“Dear _____,

My name is ____, a (insert year) student at (insert college/university) studying (insert field of study). I am emailing you to express my hope that the career center at (insert college/university) contributes to the fight to end unpaid and exploitative internships, which perpetuate inequities across the lines of race, education, gender, and wealth.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 60 percent of employers expressed preference for hiring applicants with internships on their resume according to one survey, with 90 percent of employers saying students should have one or two internships before they graduate (NACE). With barriers to entry for unpaid internships, those students who can’t afford to take these opportunities on are put at a disadvantage compared to their peers who are.

Additionally, exploitative internships that ask students to work long hours for pay that is not proportional to the work they’ve completed harm students who do not have a financial safety net to fall back on. According to Forbes, almost 60% of all students at 4 year private and public colleges universities will be graduating with student loan debt. With this being the reality, as well as the fact that many students rely on working through college to maintain basic living expenses, these exploitative internships are nearly impossible for many students without wealth, and for those that do take them on, evidence shows that these experiences are harmful for both the student’s mental and financial health.

With that said, I am extremely passionate about making sure that fairness and equity is a priority at the career center here at (insert college/university). This is why I am asking for leaders here to consider providing a litmus test to employers that would like for our career center to advertise their internships on our website or on our Handshake (adjust this as needed based on where your college posts internships). I ask that you consider prohibiting the promotion of internship listings that are unpaid or ask students to work more than 10 hours a week without any sort of proportional stipend compensation. By setting this standard, we are not only ensuring that opportunities available to students here at (insert college/university) are both professionally and financially beneficial, but we are also sending a clear message to employers that student workers deserve to be treated fairly and have their work recognized appropriately.

I look forward to continuing a conversation regarding this issue and hope that your team will see the benefits in taking a stand against a practice that is outdated and inequitable. Just this year, the White House began paying their interns for the first time in history, in recognition of the barriers that unpaid internships have posed to the leaders of tomorrow. I am optimistic that it is possible for our community to follow suit.

Sincerely,

___________"