Students who have spent a summer at the White House say the internship is a great experience, even if you only get to shake hands with the president.
As the drama of the alleged Monica Lewinsky sex scandal continues to unfold, many are concerned that the media blitz will have a negative impact on summer internship programs in Washington.
"I am worried that students won't come to Washington," said Nan Wells, director of the University's Capitol Hill-based Office of Governmental Affairs. "I would hope people would not be discouraged from coming."
Unfair attention
Alex D'Amico '00, a former White House intern, said that he regretted the attention now focused on the ins-and-outs of the White House internship.
"It's unfair what's happening to the intern program because it's an excellent program that's coming under a lot of scrutiny," he said.
Here on campus, some former White House interns are confident that the strength of the program will still attract students.
"It's a great time. You never get sick of walking through the Rose Garden or up to the Oval Office," D'Amico said.
D'Amico worked in the White House's Office on Inter-Governmental Affairs and wrote weekly reports read by the President during the summer of 1997. He said six University students were interns at the White House that summer.
Director of Career Services Minerva Reed said the annual Princeton-in-Washington program has a mailing list of 175 interns each summer.
Reed said the Lewinsky accusations might lend to "more structure to the experience" and to "probably more monitoring" of interns.
For most White House interns, interaction with the president is limited. Kevin Gormley '99, who interned in 1997, said "interns have the chance to meet Clinton, but usually just to shake his hand."
'All-access'
Yet, if they receive the coveted "all-access" blue badges, interns have free access through the entire complex of the White House and Old Executive Office Building, D'Amico said. He estimated that one out of five of the approximately 250 White House interns receive the "all-access" badges.
Former interns gave a number of reasons for why certain interns would receive the blue badge. Several students posited reasons including seniority, merit, connections and nature of the individual duties of the intern.
Working in the West Wing for part of his tenure, D'Amico was at one point issued a blue badge. He said interns often see the president walking through the halls of office buildings and that some interns can access the president's daily schedule.
Some interns stalk the president, waiting for him outside the doors of conference rooms, even though that behavior is frowned upon, D'Amico said.
"The interns are told in no uncertain terms not to bother the principals," he said. "There's a real debate between taking the high road and taking the low road."
Jon Right '00 worked in the Office of the Counsel to the President in 1997. He has stayed in contact with the regular staff at the office and was at the White House when the Lewinsky story was first reported.
It was "hard for me and anyone else to believe that anyone had that much access," Right said, adding that many of the staff did not trust the reports.
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