Gym, tan, lecture?
“Jersey Shore” star Vinny Guadagnino made a surprise cameo this week as a guest lecturer at Columbia University — where he traded in his traditional fist-pump for a hearty high-five with captivated co-eds.
While some students took issue with “Professor” Vinny’s credentials as an expert in sociology, others said the change of pace at the brainy bastion was overdue.
“If he brings more people into the sociology department, who cares?” said Tim Rich a 33-year-old graduate student.
Guadagnino was tapped to teach as part of his anti-bullying agenda for the nonprofit group DoSomething.org, where his catchphrase is “Use your fists for pumping, not for punching.”
According to Columbia’s online magazine Bwog, the Staten Island native had been invited by a student who interns at the nonprofit to speak on the topic of deviance in a course on how and why organizations fail.
Vinny reportedly talked about his own experiences being bullied as a kid and on the importance of setting a good example for others — but managed to slip in asides about his TV co-stars like, “Don’t ask about me and Snooki in bed!”
He acknowledged it was a fish-out-of-water experience on Twitter afterward: “Just spoke to a class at Columbia University on behalf of @dosomething about #antibullying. Shocked?”
“I think it was cool,” said Sarah Ngu, an undergraduate who did not attend the lecture. “The more integrated our classes are to what’s going on in the outside world, the better.”
But not everyone was receptive to getting words of wisdom from the star of a lowbrow reality show that serves as a showcase for boozy buffoonery.
One student challenged Vinny on the contradiction between the reality-show thuggery and his huggy-buggy message, while others at the Morningside Heights campus who heard about the appearance trashed it.
“The guy’s a moron. Somebody like him should not be influencing a place of higher learning,” said one 26-year-old sociology student. “Columbia is legitimizing him. I’m sort of appalled.”
Professor Diane Vaughan and the school press office did not respond to requests for comment.
The visit prompted some students to dream of more intersections between the reality-TV show cast and the college.
“I’d love if Pauly D came,” said Justin Hedvat, a 23-year-old undergrad. “In fact, I’m going to file a complaint. Why wasn’t Pauly D invited?”