New Jersey State Senator Mulling 'Snooki's Law'

• Unfortunately, the facts of the original performance has been distorted & missrepresented. 1) Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi did not go to Rutgers to "speak". It was a comedic performance, advertised as comedy, and meant as pure entertainment . 2) Over 2,500 students expressed interest in the comedy show (not a lecture). There were 2 shows. Snooki and a co-performer, comedian Adam Ace, performed a spoof of "inside the actor's studio" where Snooki poke fun of her self and fame. Each show had 500 in attendance (Full occupancy). The second who was televised live through the internal TV channels at RU, so countless more watched from their rooms. 3) The $32,000 was paid using student activities fees, not tax money. The student activity fee that each student pays amounts to $6 per semester. This fee funds over 180 events each year, from comedic acts (like the Snooki act) to lectures (Spike Lee spoke a month prior), to various arts, crafts, concerts and other activites. The $32K paid covered the booking fee as well as Snooki's fee AND the fee for the second comedian who performed with Snooki -- for BOTH performances.. 4) Toni Morrison's normal speaking fee is $60,000. She halved it to $30K because she used to teach at Rutgers. 5) Snooki was the 3rd or 4th choice to perform. Other performers actually cost more, and the Programming Association chose to book Snooki and Adam Ace for the comedy performance because in the long run, it was more cost effective. It's unfortunate how the original biased article written in the Star Ledger of NJ was inaccurate and skewed the facts to portray Snooki's appearance as "educational" and paid for by the tax payers. It's even more unfortunate that all the news agencies spreading this story did not check the facts and spread the misinformation- some of which even changed the story complete to "report" that Snooki will be coming to speak at Commencement- a blatant lie. So to recap: it was 2 comedy acts featuring 2 performers. It was not educational; Toni Morrison's normal fee is 60K, and the news media has been lazy with their due diligence in reporting facts. Like Snooki or not, she's popular and an entertainer, and entertainment should be taken at face value.

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