By Erica Driskell

The Daily Iowan

Involvement with certain student political groups this fall proved an opportunity for students to earn up to three semester hours, but some felt that the program took away from the altruism of political involvement.

Members of UI Students for Bush, Students for Gore and Students for Nader were all eligible for the credit offered through the political science department's Government Internship course, but only a handful took advantage.

Students for Nader members said their involvement sprouted from an actual desire to become involved with grassroots politics and spread their message to the public, said Jeffrey Charis-Carlson, the chairman of UI Students for Nader.

"A lot of students for Gore and Bush are looking for this as a way to pad their resume," Charis-Carlson said.

The course allows those who wish to gain one to three-elective credit hours the ability to do so through working in a state or national legislative office, an executive agency or with an election campaign official, said Tim Hagle, a UI professor of political science and the faculty adviser of Students for Bush.

The pass/fail course requires political-science faculty members to agree to set the requirements for the students and negotiate how many hours the students would fulfill, Hagle said.

Typically, the faculty member requires the students to turn in a weekly log of hours spent while interning and completing a paper at the end of the semester. An official within the campaign must watch over the student to determine the amount of hours each student is putting into the project, Hagle said.

"It's really a good way to get political government experience for the time you are putting in," he said.

More than 10 members of Students for Bush participated in the internship procedure through Hagle, who served as both supervisor within the campaign and faculty adviser.

Typically Hagle said he does not serve as a faculty adviser for students participating in the internship because of the inability to determine how much work each student puts into the course, but because he was actively involved with Students for Bush, he was able to supervise the students.

"Because I was an active member, I was able to see how much time they were putting into the campaign," Hagle said.

Another problem with the program this year was finding political professors who would supervise an internship to gain credit hours. Although political science professors Hagle, Cary Covington and David Redlawsk announced the program in their classes, no one was willing to take the time or energy, Emily Hajek, public-relations director of Students for Gore, said.

"As I understood it, it wasn't going to work out, so I didn't pursue it any further," Hajek said.

As the leader of Students for Gore, Hajek said she should have been notified of the opportunity, but no one ever contacted her. Only a few UI students for Gore participated in the course.

"It's unfortunate, but I also had a lot of people willing to work without getting anything in return," Hajek said. "When you saw Students for Bush standing in the Pentacrest handing out fliers, there might have been ulterior motives for that."

Hope Welander, a vice president of University Democrats and member of Students for Gore, decided to participate in the internship after political-science professor Covington announced the opportunity in his American Politics course.

"I don't think there was intentional discrepancies," Welander said. "I think they just weren't interested in the internship or didn't know how to go about it."