View From The Floor

The unpaid internship. Like many undergraduate rites of passage, it makes no sense to outsiders. Outsiders consider working for no money unlawful. They believe an unpaid intern should at least receive academic credit. Naturally the powers-that-be at Penn translate "academic credit" to mean "a happy face on your transcript that does not help you graduate."

Yet we, the unpaid intern masses, understand the importance of Experience. We are people-meeting, connection-making, knowledge-absorbing students of the summer. And, as the Times reports today, we want Experience so badly, we will do whatever it takes to get it. We will find living arrangements where no housing actually exists. We will sleep on the floor.

If you think this situation elicits sympathy from UTB, you are mistaken. Some of us lived in Hill freshman year and don't want to hear about your crappy one-bedroom-with-four-roommates setup in Manhattan. We think it's about time you Quad-dwellers learned how the other half lives. In fact, we've all had to do similar things to make this summer happen and we're pretty sure it's character building. You may have noticed we have a lot of character, and that's probably why.