Professor of Communications Grace Levine did not know much about the celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.com prior to now. If she had, she may have had a different reaction when she was contacted by them.
The undergraduate internship coordinator in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University was contacted by TMZ in regards to its internship position with “The Late Show” on CBS, hosted by recently vilified David Letterman, who admitted to having sexual relations with an intern.
According to Levine, her words were purported more harshly than she had meant.
“They made our position look more punitive toward the Letterman show than it might have been,” she said. “It also isn’t a huge issue for us, since we’ve had very few students [who have interned on the Letterman Show] and the last one… was a couple of years ago. So it isn’t a present problem that we need to deal with today.”
Levine told The Chronicle that she believes she emphasized to TMZ that she wasn’t speaking for the University.
TMZ quoted Levine, identified as a “rep from Quinnipiac University,” as saying:
“Due to recent circumstances we will have a discussion with those in charge of placing our interns at the David Letterman show in the future. We will diligently oversee this internship program to ensure that our interns are out of harm’s way.”
The TMZ story was identified with the headline “College to Letterman: Don’t Touch Our Interns!”
The news quickly garnered national attention, and even gossip Web site PerezHilton.com picked up the story.
“We think this is a touch ridiculous as college-aged women are adults more than capable of making their own decisions,” the popular site said, “whether that means getting laid on the job by the boss or not!”
The Chronicle contacted Quinnipiac’s Vice President for Public Affairs Lynn Bushnell, who said that Levine “did not have authority to speak on behalf of the University.”
The Chronicle also contacted “The Late Show,” but was told they had “no information regarding the situation at all.”
Currently, there are no students who are interning at The Late Show with David Letterman.
Stay with The Chronicle for more on this developing story.
