Missouri Southern State University is sending interns back to Jefferson City

After a yearlong hiatus, Missouri Southern State University will resume its legislative intern program in Jefferson City for the spring 2017 session.

The Joplin university pulled its four interns out of the statehouse in April 2015 after rumors surfaced that a 19-year-old Missouri Southern student had become involved in a relationship with then-House speaker John Diehl.

What eventually was revealed through a Kansas City Star investigation was a texting scandal that forced Diehl to resign and caused the Missouri House to re-evaluate intern and sexual harassment policies.

In addition, Sen. Paul LeVota resigned at the end of the 2015 session amid allegations that he sexually harassed interns.

Policies aimed at better protecting interns and improving the statehouse culture convinced Missouri Southern to relaunch its intern program, said Scott Meeker, a university spokesman.

For one, relationships between elected state representatives and legislative staff or interns were banned. Sexual harassment training was made mandatory for representatives and their staff, and an ombudsman position was created to serve as a liaison between interns, House administration and universities.

“We believe the state capitol has done its due diligence in as far as reviewing its policies and feel that we can now return students to the capitol,” Meeker said.

The current House speaker, Todd Richardson, a Poplar Bluff Republican, made revamping the harassment and intern policies a priority of the Missouri House.

“What we wanted to do was to start the process of improving the culture of Jefferson City,” Richardson said. “The intern policy and sexual harassment policy were part of that effort, and I think they’ve been successful in starting that process of improving the environment.”

He noted, however, that while problems at the capitol won’t all be “fixed overnight,” he is excited to see Missouri Southern interns return.

“It’s been a very successful program, not only for the House but for the students who get to participate. We’ve got people in elected office who got their first experience in politics as an intern.”

The university has also made some changes to its 20-year-old internship program.

While the program is open to students in all majors, the university will only send juniors and seniors to Jefferson City.

A new coordinator was hired for the program and will arrange Skype access to keep one-on-one, day-to-day contact with interns, Meeker said. In addition, he said, students selected for the internship will go through a more rigorous interview process.

This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Missouri Southern State University is sending interns back to Jefferson City."