Rutgers university gets flack for spending thousands on Snooki
Rutgers university, located in New Jersey, is being criticized for spending $32,000 for a speaking appearance from Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi.
The reality TV star was paid $2,000 more than Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison is set to receive for her speech at the university’s commencement ceremony May 15.
Though some students complained that Snooki’s appearance was a misuse of university funds, over 1,000 people showed up to see the celebrity speak.
“The students canvassed for who they wanted here and had the funds available,” Rutgers spokesman Steve Manas told Reuters.
Morrison told the New York Post that she wasn’t upset by the difference in pay, saying: “I don’t know her . . . and I don’t care.”
Morrison said that she usually commanded double than the $30,000 she is being paid to speak at the school’s graduation, but “I have some nostalgia about Rutgers because I used to teach there so, in effect, I cut my fee in half.”
Students file suit against Yale over sexual harassment
After members of campus fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon shouted “no means yes” and several other derogatory remarks at female students, 16 students have banded together to filed a complaint with U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights over the incident, according to NBC News.
The students, dissatisfied with the school’s handling of the situation, allege the school is in violation of Title IX, which states: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
Though Yale has formed a board to deal with issues of sexual harassment, the students filing the suit claim the board has been ineffective when dealing with problems brought to them.
The Department of Education’s OCR is reviewing Yale’s policies on sexual harassment and sexual assault.
A Yale spokesperson said that the university “will respond fully to the investigation and cooperate with the Office of Civil Rights.”
