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 delacourte

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This just shows how far we've fallen as a civilization, when an illiterate idiot is paid more than a Nobel winning author for a speaking engagement at a university.Sad.

By RON

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Well said. She offers nothing to society other tnan to keep the liquor stores in business. How much lower can Hollywood and MTV sink?

Saturday 02 April

By cosmo

I'd be furious if the mandatory student fees included in tuition costs at my college went to pay Snookie! What a pathetic joke. And as for the university paying Toni Morrison (the only speaker they paid, according to them) - Why? She isn't much of a prize either. Who's running that school anyway? Their choice of speakers makes me wonder what kind of education the students are getting. Sheesh!

Friday 08 April

By G Chee

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Rutgers has finally made the Ivy League -- of party schools. Their grads should be proud!

Friday 22 April

By merle

I think I am going to be sick!!

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