The Care and Feeding of Legislative Interns.

• Author: Rosenthal, Alan
• Position: Brief Article

The legislature can only benefit from having students serve as interns for a session. Here are 16 tips drawn from the experience of legislators, legislative staff and college professors in a dozen states that ensure a good experience for students and the institution.

Every year thousands of undergraduate and graduate students from hundreds of colleges and universities intern in state legislatures. Some students receive course credit for their work, some do not. The large majority are unpaid and work part-time at their internships. In a few states--California and Ohio are examples--the interns (or "fellows," as they are called) are college graduates, working in the legislature full-time for a year. The variation in programs among the states is great.

BENEFITS OF INTERNSHIPS

Interns help the legislators and the staff agencies for whom they work. They fill in on day-to-day tasks and are also useful on research projects. In some places, they are virtually all the staff a member has; in others, they become part of a small team. Either way, the legislature benefits.

The principal benefits, however, go to the institutions of higher education that send students and to the students themselves. Internship programs are one of the principal ways, outside of budgeting, that colleges and universities interact with the state legislature. The students receive an educational experience that is not available in the classroom. They get to see the links between theory and practice. They learn firsthand, as participant observers, about the legislative institution, the process and the people. As a result of their experience, a number of interns are recruited to legislative staff positions, and others are encouraged to run for public office.

LEGISLATORS AS EDUCATORS

More than anything else, an internship offers an educational opportunity for students and a challenge for legislators.

We recognize that legislators are overburdened with responding to constituents, listening to lobbyists, doing case work, chairing or serving on committees, dealing with the media, relating to staff and so many other things. Still, legislators who have interns working for them (we would guess that one out of six members falls into this category) bear a responsibility for the education these students receive.

On the basis of their own experience with interns, legislators may disagree with one or two of the following tips, but we believe that they are worth considering.

1. Meet, greet and...