The Poof Is in the Paycheck: Rutgers Pays Snooki $32K

By PopEater Staff Posted Apr 1st 2011 11:01AM

No, this is not an April Fools' Day joke. 'Jersey Shore' star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi earned a whopping $32,000 to appear at two Q&A sessions at Rutgers University on Thursday night, a fee that exceeds the amount Nobel-winning novelist Toni Morrison will make to deliver the school's commencement speech next month.

Topics discussed at the event, held at the Livingston Student Center, included her "poof" hairstyle, hooking up with guido juiceheads and taking long showers while shooting 'Shore' (because cameras can't follow her there).

According to The Star-Ledger of Newark, money for Snooki's appearance came from mandatory student activity fees, which is funded by tuition. Morrison is being paid $30,000 to speak at the commencement on May 15. That fee is not coming from students, however, but from PepsiCo, which has exclusive vending rights on campus.

Students on the Rutgers University Programming Association, which ran the event, justified Snooks' fee by pointing out that their first choices to appear, comedians Aziz Ansari and Kevin Hart, would have cost upward of $75,000 each to perform.

Thursday's event was called 'Inside the Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi Studio,' a nod to 'Inside the Actors Studio.' The James Lipton in this scenario was comedian Adam Ace, who asked the pint-sized reality star some hard-hitters like how she deals with pesky cameramen while taping 'Jersey Shore.'

"If I'm ever annoyed at the camera, I'll spray hairspray for five years," she said. "The only real way to get away from the camera is showering, so we take really long showers."

Snooki was also asked if the show was based in reality or semi-staged like 'The Hills.' "You can't make this s**t up," she said. "Everything that goes down goes down. If it was fake I wouldn't be a part of it."

Reactions were widely positive to Snooki's appearance on the campus.

"I think Snooki is really popular and prevalent in the media," Jill Weiss, a junior, told the student paper The Daily Targum. "It's great that Rutgers brought her. I don't watch the show, but my friends were so excited about coming and so am I. It's a very exciting event."

"Honestly, I thought they would have paid her more," Adham Abdel-Raouf, 18, a freshman from Alabama, told the Star-Ledger.

But not everyone was stoked.

"Such a waste of my money. If I want to listen to someone talk, they should have something intelligent to say," freshman Dan Oliveto, 18, told the Star-Ledger.

Snooki's advice to Weiss, Abdel-Raouf and all other students in attendance: "Study hard, but party harder."

Tags: Rutgers, Snooki

Comments

(25)

Friday 01 April

By JEB BUCKINGHAM

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MY advice to Snooki: Drop dead, but drop DEADER.

By Rebecca

I would have been PISSED if some of my tution money went to pay this skank to talk. Really? And that's some advice there, snockered, er, Snooki, make sure you drink a lot, oh, but study, too. And they paid her more than someone who's done something with their life and has something intelligent to say? Goes to show why the world is as dumb as it is, look what they teach them in school!

By KR

This loserette should have only been hired as a lab research subject, giving a more intelligent chimpanzee a few days off.

By angerISFORlosers

i wouldnt worry, soon enough she'll be pushed aside and wont know what to do with herself, then she'll blow all of her money and end up on celebrity rehab as the first patient ever addicted to fame

By gracie

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Jeb your a hater!!! who gives a S*** if she spoke at a rutgers and got paid for it, good for her... Wishing death upon her get real.!!! your mad get over yourself!

By ruta

But you don't hate him for that, do you?

By Bauer

Very disappointed in spending this much money on such a lame guest - nothing to offer. Why not wait afew months and go down to the boardwalk and talk to any girl of this caliber

Doesn't show today's college student in a good light.

By Mike

Unbelieveable and a little disturbing! What's next? Kim Kardashian to perform brain surgery for med students?

By John

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Mike, while she is no brain surgeon, at least Kim Kardashian is hot. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing her in a tight fitting doctors outfit! But this chick "Snookie"? (what the F is a snookie anyway???) has absolutely no sex appeal whatsoever. Not even a two case night of hard drinking could change what that chicks face looks like or her weight!

By RICHARD

Just goes to show you what education has done for this country.

By Rob

Rutgers is supposed to be an institution of higher learning with a good reputation and they bring this bottom feeder in to speak? Does this dumb drunk even have a GED? I think the donors to this school need to evaluate how the money is being spent there.

That chick is the epitomy of ugly. Try a friggin salad bar sometime you hog....jezzzz!

By Trisha

Wow. That's just a shame. School funding and budget cuts are putting student activities on the chopping bloc and they wast their money on this?? Except for what I just typed, I'm speechless. This country is so screwed up.

By Plutogirl

Drinking and partying pay and pay big. Message received loud and clear.

By doneldathomas

WTF!!! what a waste of money.This is what our kids are learning.Lovely!!!!

By Joe S.

That's the only way she'll get to college. Ater all, Rutgers is the state university of Joisey.

By zannadoo

They should have taken the money from the health and social services dept. She's a walking PSA. Girls should look at her and see someone they don't want to be like. Guys should look at her and see someone that they should probably think twice about hooking up with. Money saved on clinic visits and bail money alone would justify it. But hey.....she's just havin' fun. Right?

By YellowRose3218

Jeb,,No one likes the girl, but to wish her, or anyone death..
Sir, you have a serious problem.

This Nookie girl being paid so much money to talk about what?
Her hair being 'poofed' up? Or how to cake on make up, go on a talk show and TRY desperatly to act intelligent. How to spray hair spray on her hair, to make sure that it will not move while being %#@*%^#. The girl has all the brains of a frog, and has not one intelligent thing to say ever. There is nothing Nookie can teach these college kids, or anyone else for that matter.
I bet not many show up to hear her, it would be a waste of time, money, and effort on anyones part.
Only a misguided teenager would want to listen to anything Nookie has to say.

By wijo42

I don't understand how TV can glorify this uncouth, morally degenerate woman. How can her parents be proud of this ignorant excuse for a daughter?

By Pat Helkey

I cannot believe that this is the kind of person the college would bring to perform. What kind of an example is she? The worst kind! And to use money from student fees is inexcusable. This person is trash and not a performer. If you want entertainment, get a real performer!

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