Kimmel, the host of JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE!, was invited to campus just before the holidays in a letter (PDF) from HSU President Rollin Richmond and Associated Students President Ellyn Henderson. They requested he speak at HSU’s upcoming Commencement Ceremonies on May 18. As an alternative, they offered him the opportunity to choose a convenient time during the Fall 2013 semester.
“You may not remember this,” they wrote, “but you recently got a few laughs on your show by talking about the new Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research.”
They continued, “We thought some of your lines were actually pretty funny, as did many on campus. However, like many students and alumni, we also felt you shortchanged Humboldt State University, portraying all of our students as pot-obsessed slackers. That was not fair.”
Although Kimmel has not yet accepted–or, for that matter, even responded–the University is hopeful he will make the trip. Logistical planning has already begun.
HSU does not expect to incur expenses for Kimmel’s visit, beyond the HSU baseball cap that was sent with the invitation.
Henderson urges students and others to do what they can to politely encourage Kimmel to accept the invitation. He may be reluctant, or ABC may be too cheap to send him on a junket, so some polite nudges through Kimmel-branded social media might be in order.
Kimmel is on Facebook at facebook.com/JimmyKimmelLive and Twitter at twitter.com/jimmykimmel.