Students who have been contacted about a shady-sounding internship can rest assured the opportunity is legitimate.
The callers from Southwestern Company arranging information sessions about those internships, to be hosted in Mass Communications building Room 282, represent a Tennessee-based business that does this every year, according to the Texas Tech Police Department. A total of nine reports reached the department involving unwanted electronic communication from the company between March 29 and March 31.
Lynn Huffman, executive associate dean of Academics, Research and Faculty Development for the College of Human Sciences, sent an e-mail to all Human Sciences students urging them to be careful if they received communication regarding summer internships because of the concern she saw in many of her faculty and students.
Capt. Kenny Evans of the Tech Police Department said the electronic communication and subsequent reports from concerned students were part of a “misunderstanding.”
“It was a miscommunication issue all the way around,” Huffman said. “People are nervous about (being stalked or followed) and think the worst.”
Although nine students reported the communication — which included phone calls and text messages — to the police, Evans said the communication came from a legitimate source.
Representatives for Southwestern Company had been contacting students about a summer internship opportunity, Evans said.
Huffman said much of the miscommunication could have been avoided if the Southwestern Company representatives were more clear with students about where they found contact information and why they were calling.
Travis Thompson, a representative for Southwestern Company, said he and his coworkers attain student contact information using two methods: questionnaires and student recommendations.
Those questionnaires are passed out during the first week and a half of each semester and contain a space for students to provide Southwestern Company with their names, majors and telephone numbers, Thompson said.
“I think some of these students had forgotten they had filled out the (questionnaires),” Evans said.
Southwestern Company representatives are allowed to use text messages to remind students about information sessions and interviews to which they have already committed but never use them as a form of their first communication with students, Thompson said.
Nick Dale, also a representative for Southwestern Company, said text message reminders often are necessary.
“They’re college students, and they tend to forget,” he said.
Dale said he could not speculate as to why nine students reported Southwestern Company representatives to the police because he is confident in the company’s methods of communicating with students.
“We give people plenty of chances to say ‘no,’” he said.
Huffman said although she regrets any harm her e-mail may have caused, she does not in any way regret taking measures to keep students safe.
“I regret if anyone has had a problem because of this, but I always want to take care of students,” she said.
After further investigation by the police, Huffman sent a second e-mail to Human Sciences students letting them know all concerns involving the communication had been eased Wednesday.
Huffman said she sent the e-mail at 6:41 p.m. March 30 after being told Mass Communications building Room 282 did not exist.
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Kudos to Lynn Huffman for being concerned enough to issue a warning to our students regarding a possible scam.