The speaking fee Rutgers University in New Jersey paid to the star of the MTV reality television series The Jersey Shore is $2,000 more than Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison will receive to speak at graduation on May 15.
"We have more than 200 events on our campus during the course of the year, everything from scholarly presentations to entertainment," Rutgers spokesman Steve Manas said. "The students canvassed for who they wanted here and had the funds available."
More than 1,000 people came to the university to hear Snooki speak on Thursday.
Student Hina Rehman, 20, said she found it disappointing her tuition money was going to fund the event.
"The fact that our school spent $32,000 to bring her is ridiculous," she said. "It's fine the money used here is meant for entertainment purposes, but I think we can get better entertainment than that."
Student Josh Kaufmann, 19, attended the event and said he doesn't understand the outcry over Snooki's paid appearance.
"She did two events and they were both jam packed with lines out the door," he said.
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