Exploited by your UROP or Internship?

Thu Feb 29 09:32:23 EST 2024

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TL;DR UA Public Affairs wants to hear about mistreatment from UROP supervisors/MIT employers, hostile or exploitative working conditions at internships, and being asked to do unpaid work during an interview process. <https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj9> Take this anonymous, open-ended survey<https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj9> at https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj9 to help us get policy changes!

Undergrads,

Last semester, UA Council approved of UA Public Affairs advocating to expand protections and payment for unpaid student workers. In particular, we have been working to extend sexual harassment, discrimination, and anti-exploitation protections that currently leave out many unpaid interns and volunteers. You can read UAPA’s Proposal on Unpaid Internships<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nlL4F3zzJRUMVM_cQnJjXL56OPVy8G7dtRj0YnFEuYE/edit?usp=sharing> to learn more.
We are engaging with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office (AGO), Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards (DLS), legislative offices, and other state and federal policymakers to improve student working conditions. We want to make sure MIT undergraduates’ voices are represented in these conversations— the only way policymakers can improve student working conditions is by telling them where gaps exist.
At the same time, we are aware of and concerned about some of the experiences students have had with UROPs— especially as it relates to supervisors unfairly pressuring students to work unpaid or requiring productive assignments as part of the interview process. We are working to improve the UROP system and would value hearing more about what has gone wrong.
If you or anyone you know have had bad experiences with UROPs, other MIT employers, or internships, please fill out this survey<https://forms.gle/ekjkEbskxudRumSf7> (<https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj9>https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj9<https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj>)<https://forms.gle/S97XdmZycJjXMDvj9>. Your experiences will ultimately be the way we push for these changes.
We hope you will spread the word and join us in advancing conditions for student laborers at MIT, in Massachusetts, and around the nation. Thanks for all your help!
As a reminder, UA recruitment is this week. If you’d like to join our efforts (or front new ones!), consider applying to UA Public Affairs at https://ua.mit.edu/join-the-ua! For any questions, or if you wish to be contacted regarding your answers to the survey, please email the UA Public Affairs chairs ua-publicaffairs-chairs at mit.edu<mailto:ua-publicaffairs-chairs at mit.edu>.

Paul Irvine & Kim Liao
UA Chairs of Public Affairs

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Paul Irvine (he/him/his)
Chair of External Affairs, Undergraduate Association
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology ’24
pirvine at mit.edu | 714-290-9780

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