Hi guys. Odds are, the man or woman reading this is neck deep in student loan debt. We pay our respective institutions exorbitant amounts of money in hopes they will allocate it in our best interest. That’s the machine we feed. Well, some might argue that paying the girl who so eloquently said ““Everybody Google it, because that’s why the water is salty. Fuckin’ whale sperm” $32,000 for a speaking fee at Rutgers University, is not the best allocation of student tuition.
Back in 2011, Snooki was paid $32,ooo just to speak at Rutgers and tell students, “study hard, but party harder.” For perspective, that fee was $2,000 more than Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison who gave the commencement address that same year, according to USA Today. Rutgers is the same school that rescinded an invitation to Former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak to its students.
Snooki’s fee prompted the creation of a bill in New Jersey that would cap spending of state money for speakers at public universities in New Jersey at $10,000.
The creator of the bill, Republican Assemblyman John DiMaio, said it was “ludicrous and wasteful” to disburse state funds as payment for of speakers like Snooki.
E.J. Miranda, a spokesman for Rutgers, defended the decision in 2011 by saying that Snooki was invited by the students. “The students use funds designated for student programming,” Miranda said. “The university does not censor the speakers (that) students choose to invite to campus.”
The Assembly is slated to vote on the bill on Thursday.
If you weren’t already depressed, it may be painful to learn that by the end of the Jersey Shore, Snooki was making $150,000 per episode. She’s worth an estimated $4 million today. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go withdraw from my 401k to buy lunch today.
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[h/t USA Today]