As a still fairly young working professional, I thought I would put in my two cents worth about the intership issue. It was only five years ago that I was an intern myself, and it was one of the best summers of my life, so I remember it well. I was fortunate enough to be paid a stipend from the university I was attending to help defray the costs of living. I know now that had I not received some sort of payment it would have been difficult to do the internship without having to work nights and weekends or having to borrow money to get through the summer. Thankfully, my program recognized the needs of its students. But, as one subscriber noted, we did pay for the college credit in the first place. . . My feeling is that as a profession we have a duty to pay people who come to work for us. In some cases it is difficult for an institution to do this, but if an institution is committed to a good internship program, I feel it is their responsibility to find a way to pay their interns whatever they can. (I can give a good example here if anyone needs one.) I find that my biggest philosophical difficulty with unpaid internships is that museum work remains the domain of the elite or those of independent means, and let's face it, we can't achieve diversity and "Excellence in Equity" when we don't pay people. In some cases museums will miss an opportunity for an excellent candidate due to lack of funds, or a good student will miss out on a good learning experience because he or she has no money to live off of for three or four months. I am not going to make a lot of friends saying this, but this is a *class* issue that we must confront in our profession. I also feel that paying people encourages responsibility and good work. Pay is their "buy in," if you will. This is also why I feel that interns should be given performance evaluations, but that is another issue. Thank you all for your time. Mariah Sacoman NM Hispanic Cultural Center 600 Central SW, Suite 201 Albuquerque, NM 87102 [log in to unmask]