The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is now accepting applications for the 2011 Summer Internship and Legal Internship Programs. FIRE internships provide incomparable opportunities for undergraduates and law students to spend the summer defending individual rights on campus.

For undergraduates, FIRE offers a 10-week, paid Summer Internship Program. FIRE interns do substantive work on behalf of rights, liberty, and individual dignity. Interns help with administrative tasks, write about FIRE cases and issues, and develop strategies for protecting open discourse on their own campuses. Interns also participate in weekly seminars with FIRE staff and other prominent experts on civil liberties. The 2011 Summer Internship Program will run from Monday, June 6, through Friday, August 12, at FIRE’s downtown Philadelphia office.

FIRE’s Legal Internship Program gives rising second- and third-year law students the opportunity to work closely with FIRE attorneys to promote liberty on campus. Legal interns perform vital research and write memoranda on current FIRE cases and issues. Participants are also encouraged to explore their own interests within FIRE’s focus on constitutional law on campus and will develop writing samples and legal scholarship with the assistance of FIRE attorneys. Legal internships may be paid or unpaid, depending on individual students’ particular needs. However, pursuit of independent funding and public interest fellowships is encouraged.

As a former intern myself, I can testify about the value of a summer with FIRE. Unlike a stereotypical internship, I was not treated as an inconsequential coffee slave, but rather as a valued student leader in the liberty movement. And, oh, how I learned! FIRE interns get a crash course in civil liberties, thoroughly learning about the law and philosophy behind subjects such as freedom of expression, religion, and association. By the end of summer, I had learned so many techniques to promote individual rights that I brought by to my libertarian club at Berkeley. On top of that, an internship with FIRE is just plain fun! The Philadelphia office is a lively place full of lots of great characters that will keep you smiling all day. Thus, I encourage any college student interested in fighting for individual rights to apply.

The deadline for the undergraduate internship is March 31, 2011. FIRE considers applications for legal internships year-round and on a rolling basis.