Dozens of snappily dressed Kansas Legislature interns arrived Thursday for an orientation session as each prepared to begin assignments working with House and Senate members.
"I'm excited about this year," said Rep. Peggy Mast, an Emporia Republican who serves as House speaker pro tem. "We are sitting right now in the most attractive building in the state of Kansas."
The sparkling Capitol, borne of a 13-year, $320 million renovation, awaited interns from The University of Kansas, Washburn University and Kansas State University. They will begin duties Monday at the start of the 2014 session.
Before leading tours of the building, Mast made no reference to controversy about proposed revisions to the intern handbook. Numerous rules suggested last week for inclusion by Mast were edited out.
"We don't want it to be an onerous environment," Mast said in an interview. "We wanted it to be a professional environment."
Staff members of Democratic legislators had raised questions about fashion regulations for interns that went beyond limits applied to legislators. Civil rights attorneys had taken issue with boundaries on social media expression among interns that had been put forward by Mast.
"This should have been settled a long time ago, and the process ought to have been more inclusive," said Will Lawrence, who runs the intern program for Senate Democrats.
The final 2014 intern handbook no longer contained mandates on quantity of perfume and cologne, "over the top" hair coloring, number of earrings, length of facial hair and "tight, skinny" pants.
Removed from the document was an admonition volunteer interns were expected to exhibit the highest level of conduct because they represented House or Senate members at all times whether at work or play.
Another eliminated rule asserted "inappropriate" photographs and language had to be deleted from personal social media sites. Also dropped was a requirement interns "never say anything derogatory about another individual with whom you interact or about any policy your legislator is supporting and or advocating."
In addition, a prohibition on interns dating legislative staff members was removed.
The document advises the college-age interns to dress professionally. They were still blocked from wearing flip-flops and tennis shoes. The handbook says tattoos should be covered — if possible.
Under revised rules, men were to wear a suit or a collared dress shirt and tie, dress slacks and dress shoes. Women, meanwhile, were to arrive in "suits or business dresses or a shirt-dress pants and dressy top."
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment