OPINION: Catfished by a Scripps-sponsored internship

Last spring, when I was searching for an anthropology senior thesis, I found a flier posted at Scripps College detailing a fully funded research project in Senegal, Africa, guided by a Scripps professor. We all know the difficulty of finding any internship, so when I finally received a “Congratulations” email, I did everything to ensure that I would get the most from the opportunity. What I know now, however, is that it was all a waste.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

Nicole Richards was leading the research. As a visiting professor, the fact that she got enough funding and support from Scripps to bring students to Senegal was impressive. According to her LinkedIn, she has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Southern California and an M.A. in Black Studies from Columbia University. Given that she taught classes on Black queer studies and reproductive justice, her knowledge base seemed expansive.

Additionally, the research was conducted in partnership with Rose Pan African Education, an organization that Richards built herself. The program aims to bring students, writers and educators to Senegal, Rwanda, Benin and Ghana for study exchanges. There are subprograms such as Immersion Writers, Decolonizing Education, Introduction to African History, Mental Health and Wellness – the list goes on.

Six months later, I landed in Senegal accompanied by three other Scripps students whom I had only met once before. One of the students was trapped in the John F. Kennedy International Airport because Richards had booked the wrong flight and refused to help secure another so I didn’t see her for another two days after my landing.

We then spent 11 days there confused as to what we were doing. What is the research? Where are we staying? Who are we meeting today? Are we meeting anyone today? Why have we spent the first three days at the beach, two hours away from Dakar? Why did we never learn Wolof?

When Richards finally answered the questions about research, she proceeded to list three different research projects — none of which coincided with the ones she had told us before. And, turns out, she had pitched us all different projects.

It quickly became clear that we would not be conducting any research.

But, I mean, what’s so wrong with sending students to Senegal for maybe not studying abroad but at least cultural exchange? While it was confusing and disorienting at first, we still met amazing people and learned about a new city that I had never been to before.

I was able to make peace with my senior thesis withering away, until two days before our flights back to the States, Richards left us.

I mean completely left us with nowhere to stay, no one to translate and no way of getting from one place to the next. At the very least, how were we supposed to get to the airport?

Fed up with our questions and confusion, she abandoned four students. Using the excuse that we are adults capable of caring for ourselves, she completely ignored the fact that we were in an unfamiliar place and traveling under the impression that food, housing and transportation were covered. None of us came prepared to navigate a new environment completely alone.

Put simply, she lied to us. To everyone.

Reaching out to the U.S. Embassy, Scripps and our worried parents, the last two days of the supposed “research trip” were a scary blur.

After all of this, Scripps promised to reimburse us for the unexpected expenses as well as emotional support. Unfortunately, as soon as we got on a flight to the States, Scripps’ support similarly abandoned us.

Conflicting emails made separate reimbursement promises that left each of us confused and desperate for an answer. After constant pestering, checks arrived two months later, delivering hundreds of dollars less than promised. The message became clear: We boarded a plane home and the “care” was never going to come.

The worst part? Richards disappeared from Scripps College and they refused to tell us any information about it because of a NDA contract. Any mention of her as a professor is gone.

Moral of the story: Scripps is failing to support and keep their students safe. From the Motley suddenly closing to ambiguous free speech emails to policing at Denison, the facade of student support is crumbling. Hiring a professor with such a diverse set of expertise as Richards but failing to check her reliability when taking students abroad unveils the fragility of the image that Scripps is promoting but failing to uphold.

I’ll admit, it’s not entirely Scripps’ fault that Richards acted in the way that she did. I think we were all shocked by her behavior. The whole research project seemed interesting and she’s a Scripps professor who should have been evaluated as an adequate educator. How could they have known that she would abandon us?

Unfortunately, looking back, the signs were overwhelming. Someone just had to question it.

All information was sporadic with promises that were often unfulfilled. The flier initially detailed a focus on Black girlhood, environmental activism and spiritual practitioners — assuming that somehow those all correlate. Later, I received an email explaining a thesis of  “Senegalese young adults’ coming-of-age experiences on Goree Island.” A working project makes sense, but I quickly found myself leading the research with Richards asking for my approval on interview questions.

It only continued to spiral.

Richards and I needed approval from the Institutional Review Board, an ethics board composed of Scripps members who ensure that research follows specific rules and regulations. It was May, we were leaving in two weeks and we had yet to receive approval, meaning that whatever “research” we would’ve done in Senegal would have been unethical, invalid and unsupported by Scripps.

No one — especially the Scripps’ admin who supported the research project — cared enough to question these big promises. I was relying on this project and I think I was the only one truly fighting for it to make sense. Towards the end, I think Richards started to use my thesis for her own descriptions of the trip.

We should be able to trust the people our institution hires. We should not be left in the dark and see the institution — my school — protect someone who abandoned us in a foreign country. Scripps continues this pattern, hiring around-the-clock security at Denison Library to protect the school from its own students. Scripps’ public actions, along with my experience, show what their definition of student support is: protecting their own image even if it meant leaving students scrambling for safety halfway around the world.

Where does that leave us, the students who went on this fraudulent and bizarre trip? Confused. Disappointed. Still in need of a thesis project.

I guess, next time double-check that the internship is reliable and led by someone who can be trusted. Or maybe just don’t trust Scripps.

Jada Shavers SC ’26 is from Portland, Oregon and is currently studying abroad in Denmark. She is eternally grateful for the three other people she traveled with and is still hoping that Scripps College will reimburse the remaining $2,000 that was promised.