"Jersey Shore" charmer Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is causing legal drama again – but this time it doesn’t have anything to do with drunken beach exploits.
New Jersey state senator Joe Kyrillos (R – Monmouth-Middlesex) announced on Friday that he's proposed legislation that would reverse the way that public universities collect student fees. The legislator cites Snooki's well-paid appearance at New Jersey's Rutgers University last month as an example of why the law is needed — and he even stoops to name-calling while making his case, referring to the reality TV star as a "degenerate."
"Students ought not be forced to fund entertainment or events that they find objectionable,” Kyrillos said of the proposed law. “There were a great deal of Rutgers students who I am certain were uninterested or flat out outraged by Ms. Polizzi’s appearance on campus.”
Then he twisted the dagger, calling Polizzi "a degenerate reality television star who offers neither useful advice nor any appreciable talents."
Under Kyrillos' plan, students would have to opt into activity fees, rather than the current system, which automatically deducts fees unless the student opts out.
Polizzi's two-night appearance at Rutgers' Livingston Student Center last month commanded a $32,000 fee — though, as the school pointed out at the time, that also included the payout for the events' moderator, comedian Adam Ace. The school also noted that the student-run Rutgers University Programming Association (RUPA) had heard from "nearly 2,000 students" who expressed desire in seeing Snooki at their school. (The university did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment on the proposed legislation.)
As for Kyrillos' "degenerate" comment? A spokesman for the senator conjectures that he might have been referring to the fact that Polizzi has gained a substantial amount of fame due to a reputation for drinking to excess.
At any rate, it's unlikely that New Jersey college students will be troubled by the prospect of paying for Snooki's presence again in the immediate future — the reality TV guidette is shipping off to Italy soon, to film the fourth season of "Shore."
