Snooki paid $32,000 to speak at Rutgers

[SoonerMatt]

From The Hollywood Reporter

Parents of Rutgers University students are angry about school officials' decision to pay Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi $32,000 to appear on their campus last week.

The fee was $2,000 more than Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison is receiving to speak at graduation May 15.

"It's disgusting," Nester Delgado, whose daughter is a freshman, told the New York Post. "Next year, is it going to be J-WOWW or the Situation?" Delgado added, referring to Polizzi's Jersey Shore castmates.

According to the Post, parents were especially upset that Polizzi got paid nearly $10,000 more than they pay annually to send one kid to Rutgers. Tuition and housing at the university is said to total more than $23,000.

Added Christine Getz, a part-time preschool teacher with two kids attending Rutgers: "I don't think she's a good representation of a role model for my kids."

A reported 2,000 people came to the university to hear Polizzi speak Thursday. Among the pearls of wisdom she dispensed: "Study hard, but party harder" and "When you're tan, you feel better about yourself."

Last week, Rutgers defended its decision to pay Polizzi the $32,000 fee to have her speak on its campus.

"We have more than 200 events on our campus during the course of the year, everything from scholarly presentations to entertainment," Rutgers spokesman Steve Manas said in a statement. "The students canvassed for who they wanted here and had the funds available."

The Rutgers University Programming Association, a student-run committee, invited the self-described "guidette" to speak, using the mandatory student activity fees undergraduates must pay with their tuition.

The committee said they considered Snooki’s appearance fee reasonable since other people, including Parks and Recreation star Aziz Ansari and comic Kevin Hart, demanded $75,000 each for a campus show.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by SoonerMatt

From The Hollywood Reporter

wow....just wow.....as if college life hasn't been dumbed down enough....

[tastybasslines]

its about the draw, not the person....

[Deluge Of Sound]

Originally Posted by tastybasslines

its about the draw, not the person....

Unfortunate +1.

The fact that she was paid more than Toni Morrison illustrates this perfectly.

On the other hand, the world is going to have more Snooki-esques than Toni-types (of all genders), so maybe they were trying to impart more useful wisdom to the student body.

[SoonerMatt]

I completely understand that bringing her would draw a packed crowd and that it's what the students wanted, but to compensate her more than a Nobel Prize laureate is IMO very insulting and doesn't put the university in a good light.

[basstotheface]

I'd rather have Aziz or Kevin Hart.

[HEIST]

I read the thread title and thought it was a joke

[Ziltoid]

Snookie wants smoosh smoosh

[SoonerMatt]

[basstotheface]

[MJ5150]

I thought it meant she paid Rutgers the money. Who is this person anyway?

-Mike

[stratovani]

Charlie Sheen would have cost a lot more than Snooki!

[3506string]

What's a snooki?

[KeithBMI]

I'd hit it.

[avvie]

...with a car.

[jp58]

I don't think that the parents really have room to speak here.

The students picked Snooki to be there, and it was probably meant to be an entertainment event. 3-6 Mafia and Lady Antebellum have been here for entertainment events, and no one made a stink about it.

Personally, if the University Programming Committee accomplished what they wanted to, I have no problem with it.

[bassteban]

I do not know who or what *snooki* is, and I don't care to.

[HEIST]

Oh no, this makes the youth look bad.

[Chebass88]

Disgusting.

[DwaynieAD]

I thought the title meant snooki paid the college 32k to speak there, i was like "i know she's dumb, but damn"

the entire college situation is so messed up on so many levles i find myself not caring.