Two men who worked on the production of “Black Swan” have filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight Pictures, stating the company violated minimum wage and overtime laws by using dozens of unpaid interns. The lawsuit claims the interns’ main duties included cleaning the office and making sure the coffee pot was full and alleges that there was no educational experience that labor rules require in order to use unpaid interns.

Due to a slow economy, the number of unpaid internships has risen in recent years. Many internships are unpaid because the focus of such programs is supposed to be education for future work in that field. With tougher competition in the labor market, more and more students are willing to roll up their sleeves and do the dirty work that is required of an unpaid intern in order to stand out amongst their peers after graduation.

In retrospect, the two “Black Swan” interns might be angry that they didn’t get paid because the film did so well at the box office, but they should have been aware of what they were signing up for. If they consider what they were doing to be free labor, why did they not leave? There are thousands of students who would gladly have taken their place.

Unpaid internships exist because of the plethora of students and recent graduates willing to take on menial tasks in order to benefit later on. Many give college credit, which can help students graduate on time. A large part of an internship is the name-dropping on a resume, and “Black Swan” was a $300 million-name-drop—in that sense, these men definitely got at least that for their hard work.

That being said, the debate on what constitutes an unpaid internship is clearly not settled. With the rise of unpaid internships, the federal Labor Department has begun cracking down on firms that do not comply with regulations. The department claims that violations are widespread, but it’s hard to crack down because many interns are afraid to speak up and endanger future employment.

Universities should educate their students on internship opportunities and help them make decisions that are in their best interest. Internship coordinators need to research these positions so that students are not cleaning offices. Schools could also help by offering more school credit for internships, thus making the invested time worthwhile.

Suing Fox Searchlight because “Black Swan” was a hit doesn’t bring anything constructive to the table. Yet if this problem is as widespread as the Labor Department claims, then there needs to be a larger investigation into the practice of hiring unpaid interns so that students are not taken advantage of for their services. Internships should be an enriching educational experience—not janitorial work.