The University of Vermont received an encore visit from Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller on Saturday, thanks to the efforts of two Greek organizations on campus, the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha and the sorority Alpha Chi Omega.

For the second year, the celebrity couple’s foundation, Hilarity for Charity, which raises money to combat Alzheimer’s disease, sponsored a college fundraising competition, with the group that raised the most money for the cause winning a campus visit from Rogen and Miller and a special movie screening. The couple became interested in helping combat the disease after Miller’s mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. 

The UVM Greek organizations raised $30,600, topping the list. Last year Pi Kappa Alpha won the contest wiith a solo effort, raising $27,500, prompting the first visit from Rogen and Miller.  

To give the screening of the Rogen classic Superbad some extra punch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, the actor who played the character McLovin in the film, also visited campus and attended the screening with Rogen and Miller, held in Benedict Auditorium. Before the movie, students enjoyed a meet-and-greet session in the auditorium that featured an hour of serial selfies, as groups of students crowded around the actors, iPhones aloft. 

Alzheimer’s disease largely effects the elderly. So why the emphasis on college students? 

“They have the potential to affect the most change,” Rogen told UVM Today during a round-robin series of media interviews. “It's also just who happens to listen to us. You saw I went to the Senate, and no one showed up,” he said, referring to a video of his Alzheimer’s testimony on the floor of the U.S. Senate, which was sparely attended and went viral. “I get much better attendance on a college campus than I did in the government building.”

“I really didn't know that much about Alzheimer's until my grandfather had it,” said junior entrepreneurship major and Pi Kappa Alpha member Ryan Fox, one of the organizers of the fundraiser. “He passed away from it, so that kind of spurred us. Looking at all the facts, it's really amazing how much more there is to it than just losing your memory."

Senior global studies major and Alpha Chi Omega member Kayla Guzovsky was glad to participate in the fundraising effort. "It was really awesome to be part of something like this,” she said, adding that, for the sake of the celebrity guests, she was trying not to appear “too excited.” 

Rogen is outraged by the lack of research dollars targeted to Alzheimer's disease and hopes Hilarity for Charity’s work helps spur new policy priorities.

“I didn't understand that there there's currently zero you can do about it, and I think that’s just not acceptable, considering how little funding it gets and how many people it affects,” he said. “That’s both mathematically and morally an incorrect equation."

Did Rogen and Miller have anything special to say to Pi Kappa Alpha and Alpha Chi Omega and their winning ways?

"The third time's a charm," said Miller, after thanking both groups for their efforts.

“Keep it going. Keep the streak alive,” Rogen said.