By Steven Rodas —

NJCU students are unsatisfied with Academic Career Planing and Placement’s recent decision to end most on-campus internships. As of spring 2014, NJCU still plans to offer students the opportunity to acquire cooperative education credits for off-campus internships.

On-campus internships, which have been in place since 1986, were created to allow students to partner with faculty coordinators in order to strengthen their skills in departments including music, theatre, healthcare and more.

Some students feel the new policy is unjust because arguably on-campus internships are as valuable as those done off-campus.

“All internships no matter the location are important. The fact that the credits are being taken away is ridiculous. As long as the student is getting the right learning experience, the credits should be given,” said Eileen Nunez, 25, media arts major from Jersey City.

Other students agree with her.

“NJCU is a commuter school [and] most of the students live off campus. Students are not just here for the ‘college experience,’ most of us have jobs, children and other responsibilities,” said Natasha Persaud, 24, English/journalism major from Jersey City, who was planning on interning for The Gothic Times next semester until she heard the news. “On campus co-op offered students a way to fulfill the requirements needed for graduation with a small amount of leeway for time. Interning for other organizations you have to work [about] 20-40 hours per week.”

The decision to revoke on-campus credits for the upcoming semester was determined primarily by Dean Barbara Feldman of William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences.

“Internships are a critical part of a student’s educational experience, and a critical part of preparing them to get a great job. I don’t think many of the co-ops that have been assigned to the on-campus [program] are the kinds of internships that achieve [this],” said Feldman. “It is not unusual to review any operating practices to evaluate if they are working.”

NJCU’s Academic Career Planning Placement plans to work with the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences about alternative co-op options.

“We will be collaborating as much [as possible] with the dean to focus on the quality of the internships,” said Dr. Jennifer Jones, director of Academic Career Planning and Placement.

The question of whether any on-campus internships will be reinstated next year is still pending and under evaluation.

“If [NJCU] feels [the internship] is good for a major, we’ll do it but we’re still in talks about it, still accessing it,” she added.

The Academic Career Planning and Placement Office offers services and resources to help students land internships, refine their interviewing skills, and build portfolios before graduation. Since 1973, NJCU has been placing students in cooperative education programs. The cooperative education program assigns students to a faculty co-op coordinator, who is typically a professor on campus, instead of an employer.

Between fall 2012 and summer 2013, the office placed 323 students in cooperative education internships. Of the 323, about 20 internships were done on campus in various departments such as visual arts and computer science. The previous year, between summer 2011 and spring 2012, about 60 of the 401 internships done by students took place on campus.

Feldman stressed the need to draw a line between on-campus co-op work and independent study.

“For example, a student working on a science experiment in a lab with a chemistry faculty member, that’s an independent study, its not a co-op, and so those will continue, but those will happen in the form of an independent study rather than a co-op,” said Feldman, “[I want to] make sure that everything that is a co-op and everything that is an internship and everything that is an independent study is a good one and a valuable one and meaningful one that will make our students more competitive and give them more opportunities.”

Persaud feels some of the on-campus programs are worth investing in since they allow students to gain experience prior to entering the professional world.

The Gothic Times has a history of taking students for on-campus internships. “If it wasn’t for [interning at] The Gothic Times I wouldn’t have been able to build my portfolio for my interview,” said Chinedum Emelumba, 22, former student of NJCU from Jersey City who has been writing for the Jersey Journal since August 2013. Emelumba interned at NJCU in the fall of 2012 and was surprised to hear the news when she recently visited the campus.

Although, it is currently unclear if any on-campus co-op programs will be restored in the future, Feldman assures students that NJCU is working to give students the right kind of internship experience.

“Its not that there will be none…the [co-op internships] that we do have will be very select, [they] will be ones I [have] evaluated, the kind that will get students where they want to go,” said Feldman. “I would like students to understand that it may appear [I’m] contracting or taking away opportunities for students, but actually I’m not. I’m turning and repackaging it [to] make sure it is very meaningful.”

Feldman also outlined a program NJCU hopes to launch for the summer that will create approximately 10 highly competitive off-campus internships throughout the city in business, arts, healthcare and more. More details on this opportunity will be offered as developments are made, but qualifying for this program will be stringent in terms of G.P.A, a writing sample, and letters of recommendation.

Feldman understands the struggles students face in terms of taking on internships. “I recognize [for example] that unpaid internships are costly to students because many of them are holding jobs and need to work so we need to balance that…hopefully the idea is that [the program] will expand more and more.”

Persaud trusts that on-campus internships are valuable. Students who have a full-time class schedule, takes care of kids (if any), and have multiple jobs should be able to take advantage of an opportunity that both provides them with credits and is conveniently on campus.

“On campus internships offer students to work under a professional while being able to balance the responsibilities of [the] daily life,” said Persaud.

Some students have also claimed that freshman and sophomores are among the students being disadvantaged by the decision to remove credit from on-campus co-op. They argue that first and second year students benefit from doing an on-campus co-op because it allows them to transition to an off-campus co-op when they become juniors while building a portfolio and gaining job experience.

The Black Maria Film Festival is an independent internship entity that blurs the lines between on and off campus internships. Accordingly, this program will still provide students the opportunity to intern for credits.

Eileen Nunez, current intern for the Black Maria Film Festival helps organize the festival from logging in entries, creating a judging template sheet to judge films, and searching for a host site to showcase at the festival. With the right support any internship program, regardless if it’s on-campus, can be helpful.

“The students at NJCU are determined and focused on expanding their minds and experiences for their own future,” said Nunez.

The Academic Career Planning and Placement Office will continue to place students for off-campus internships and assist with career-related services.

“We’re a highly commute-orientated school,” said Michael Moriarty, associate director of Academic Career Planning and Placement. “With the expansion of the university [the Academic Career Planning and Placement is] also expanding our services for those students who need help.”