Spurred by increased pressure to provide job placement results and recent pushback against unpaid internships, colleges and universities are starting to grant stipends for students working as unpaid interns at for-profit companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Hamilton College, the University of Richmond and Washington and Lee University, among other institutions, now offer stipends for students working at large corporations like General Motors and local businesses. Critics have accused unpaid internships of exploiting students, claiming that the financial downturn has forced more companies to hire unpaid interns to perform essential tasks instead of hiring paid employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. Federal laws dictate an employer cannot gain an "immediate advantage" from an unpaid intern's work.
Two months after Mike Rice, Jr., the former head coach of the Rutgers University's men's basketball team, was fired for physical and verbal abuse of players, footage has arisen showing that staff was concerned with Rice's treatment of players since last year, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. In the tape, recorded last June, captured former player development director Eric Murdock claimed that Rice treated the players "like slaves" and repeatedly "cracked the whip." Murdock told The Chronicle that there was a "culture of deference" with regards to Rice's behavior. Rice was fired in April after a tape surfaced of him throwing basketballs and repeating gay slurs at players. Rutgers is investigating the abuse allegations, and Murdock is suing the university because he claims that he was fired for his comments on the tape.
After intense negotiations, the budget conference committee unanimously agreed on a compromise for the New Hampshire state budget, the Concord Monitor reported yesterday. The state legislature will vote to approve the new budget plan on June 26. The bipartisan budget includes a compromise on a possible Medicaid expansion. According to the current plan, a commission will study how expanding Medicaid could affect the state budget and whether the expansion is fiscally feasible. Other compromises include eliminating funding for the Green Launching Pad, a statewide program that provides support to local startups to develop more environmentally friendly initiatives, as well as a proposal by Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., to create an Office of Innovation and Efficiency.
