Supposedly Elite University Paying GED Grad Bristol Palin To Speak There

If you every have picked up a copy of that dumb U.S. News ranking of schools and looked at the list, you have likely been surprised that something called "Washington University in St. Louis" is considered among the very best. Yes, that sounds like the name of one of those fake schools that steal government money by pressuring poor people into student loans that will never be paid; apparently, it is not. But is it a coincidence the two top stories on this student newspaper's website are "Tuition tops $40,000" and "Bristol Palin to speak during Sex Week"? Nope. It costs a lot of money to bring a teenage mother to campus to speak for a half hour about not boning people. Or at least it does for one teen mom.

Certainly a university full of very smart people probably has never heard that sticking a penis in a vagina can lead to a baby. And the obvious solution is to get a teenage mother to speak about this, because she has seen it first hand. But there probably are a quite a few teen mothers in the St. Louis area who would be willing to sit on a panel about this for twenty bucks. Or even for free! Yet:

Student Union Treasury on Tuesday approved a $20,000 appeal by the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) to sponsor a four-person panel featuring Palin. The appeal was initially set at $25,000 and renegotiated.

SHAC would not release the exact amount charged for Palin’s appearance. According to ABC News, Palin charges $15,000 to $30,000 for each appearance on the speakers’ circuit.

Somewhere on campus, one of the thirty-five quidditch teams is disbanding from a lack of funds. AND YET.

Of course, the student organization bringing Palin in defends the choice:

“I understand that people are not going to be happy—this will probably be protested. We really just want to start dialogue and the fact that we’re bringing in a balanced panel should be taken into account,” Elman said. “We’re not just bringing in Bristol Palin, we’re bringing her in with three or four other educated people.”

See, they're bringing educated people to this university too! But, you know, the educated people will make tens of thousands of dollars less than Bristol Palin will. [ Student Life ]