Staff Ed: Snooki vs.Toni Morrison

Last week, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi of Jersey Shore infamy graced the Rutgers University campus for a function organized by the Rutgers University Programming Association, a student-run programming committee.

She was paid $32,000 to discuss the gym-tan-laundry lifestyle, give a “Snooki poof” hair tutorial and share “life lessons” with about 1,000 to 2,000 students.

Toni Morrison, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, was recently booked to speak at the Rutgers commencement ceremony this May and will be paid a lesser $30,000 for this appearance.

The money that Polizzi was paid with came out of the mandatory student activity fees that are included in tuition. Morrison’s fees were paid for with a new contract Rutgers established with Pepsi Co.

The question of whether Rutgers has its students’ best interests at heart rings in the air loud and clear.

Were there no university officials that had to approve of this $32,000 check to be written for an hour of Thursday night Snooki-isms? And if there were, did they really think that was a great idea?

A statement released April 1 from Rutgers’ Media Contact Ernest Miranda defends university officials, informing the public that the university “does not censor the speakers students choose to invite to campus” and that the event was publicized as a “comedy act, not an academic program.”

Well, no harm, no foul then, right?

Except that Rutgers enrollment size is about 60,000 students, give or take a few heads, and only a handful reaped the benefits of their activity fee being spent on Snooki’s entertainment event.

Just hearing this would make any decent person say “REALLY?!”

Last Friday, when word of this made it through the social media, people around the nation were anxious to put forth their opinion.

Tweeters discussed it so much that it was a trending topic for more than a few hours on Twitter. Comments expressed disgust and baffling reactions. The phrase “Only in America” and “Wait, what?” were used quite a few times.

The most important reactions? Parents of university students who shell out about $24,000 dollars a year for their children to attend Rutgers.

“It’s disgusting,” Nester Delgado, the parent of a Rutgers freshman, told Fox
Entertainment.

“I don’t think she’s a good representation of a role model for my kids,” another parent said.

With Snooki’s parting words being “Study hard, but party harder,” we can’t say we don’t understand the outrage.

While celebrities are undoubtedly cherished, the amount of money spent to have them speak for an hour is, well, a shame, especially when it is Snooki, the self-proclaimed “meatball,” who is receiving a fatter check than the likes of Toni Morrison.

Of course, now that Snooki is a New York Times best-selling author, maybe we should take time to consider that she is far more valuable than we give her credit for. But we’re guessing she’s not.