I wholeheartedly invite you to PayInterns.com. Exercise your First Amendment rights. Endorse the “Petition to Abolish Unpaid Internships.”  Lending your voice will help to ratify our “Intern Bill of Rights and Proposed Reforms.”

The goal is to gather at least 100,000 signatures by July 4, and declare Intern Independence.  Our success can be greatly enhanced if you spread the word among those in your social network.

Together we can make our pen mightier to remedy injustice.

POST-SCRIPT: At first blush, one might assume that abolition would be counter-intuitive to fostering opportunity for students and employers. To the contrary, our Proposed Reforms take a sensible, phased approach to actualize societal and systemic change with an emphasis on stimulating opportunity, not stifling it.

While we abhor unpaid internships, we must acknowledge the necessity to balance our call for universal pay with the achieveability of that goal.  This injustice cannot fully be rectified overnight, especially in light of our current economic climate. But that should not delay the initiation and progress of meaningful reform, which will take considerable time.