SIU campus working to expand governmental internships

A bill awaiting approval from the Illinois Legislature could expand SIUC's Government Internship Program from five students to 30 as well as include the University's sister campus, SIU-Edwardsville. The House recently finished the bill's third reading, and now it is expected to move onto the Senate sometime in April, said David Gross, SIU government relations officer. Gross worked with legislators from southern Illinois and the Metro-East area to help get the bill into the House.

The Vince Demuzio Governmental Internship Program allows SIUC students to work alongside legislators in southern Illinois, Gross said. Interns, who remain enrolled as full-time students, are paid $11 an hour and receive 20 hours a week. The bill is named after the late Vince Demuzio, former Senate majority leader. Demuzio, who died in 2004 after a battle with cancer, served Illinois from 1974 to 2004. The Democrat from Carlinville was a graduate from SIUE and a great promoter of young people and internships, Gross said.

Gross said the bill would also include the executive branch as well as increase its positions in Carbondale and Edwardsville. The bill would give the program, which began in the early 1980s, an additional $150,000. "It's a great opportunity for SIU students who are interested in a government career to experience that aspect," Gross said. John Haller, vice president for Academic Affairs, drafted the proposal three years ago and submitted it to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, but the draft came just as a major budget crisis hit Illinois. The board did not include the bill on its budget proposal to the governor.

According to the bill's text, the program is in place "to enable college graduates to supplement their academic learning with practical governmental experience and to provide students with a unique opportunity to learn about and to advance into public service careers, including policy-making positions in government." The bill's House sponsors are Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Gillespie, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, Rep. Daniel Beiser, D-East Alton, Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville and Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville.