Hillary Clinton’s speech at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas foundation event Monday was ripe with irony.
The former secretary of State, who demanded $225,000 in exchange for the 90-minutes-or-less appearance and who has received criticism from both student and university leaders for her speech contract, complained about the high cost of college tuition and the burdensome student debt many students currently face during the speech.
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“Higher education shouldn’t be a privilege for those able to afford,” Clinton affirmed at the event, according to Steve Sebelius of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It should be an opportunity widely available to everybody.”
There is also video of Hillary pitying the individuals “burdened by student debt.”
“Millions of other young people are burdened by student debt that can feel like an anchor tied to their feet, dragging them down,” she detailed.
There Hillary was, complaining about tuition hikes and student debt, having charged UNLV $225,000 for her speech despite requests from student leaders for her to return the money to the university.
Even more ironic, these very UNLV students are set to endure a significant tuition hike come 2015. Tuition at the school will be raised four percent each of the next four years. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Clinton acknowledged this particular tuition hike during her remarks.
The $225,000 Hillary received for her appearance at the event will go to the Clinton Foundation, but that doesn’t mean the potential 2016 presidential candidate didn’t receive some perks for her speech.
According to her contract with the school, Clinton was put up in a presidential suite, flown on a private jet and supplied with a $1,250 speech transcript. The event was also held at the swanky Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas.
She certainly received the royal treatment, as Las Vegas reporter Jon Ralston pointed out when the details of Clinton’s contract emerged.
And, Ralston himself was not impressed with the former secretary of State’s speech Monday.
“Anyone in this room could have given this speech,” he tweeted of Clinton’s remarks. “I am not kidding. I would have given it for a lot less.”
According to Ralston, Clinton spoke for a mere 23 minutes before opening it up to questions and answers.
Tables paid for by top UNLV donors at the event sold for between $3,000 and $20,000 each, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, but the jury is still out on whether or not all that money was worth it.
H/T The Daily Caller
