The Oberlin Learning & Labor Program (OLLP) combines seminar-level coursework in labor studies with paid summer internships in the labor movement. The program was founded by Politics Department faculty working with Oberlin alumni dedicated to introducing students to potential careers dedicated to improving worker rights.
Oberlin Learning & Labor Scholars take a seminar in the spring semester (The Politics of Work and Organized Labor) and are then placed in a paid summer internship, with organizations ranging from the AFL-CIO to the Economic Policy Institute. Scholars reconvene in the fall semester to reflect on and deepen their internship experience with the Advanced Colloquium on Labor Politics.
The OLLP maintains an online network comprising the large number of Oberlin alumni with connections to the labor movement, including labor organizers, labor lawyers, and those working in labor-related think tanks and non-profit organizations, with the goal of providing career pathways for OLLP scholars. It also occasionally invites them to campus to join the seminars and to give public lectures on campus.
2026-27 Applications are due by November 2.
