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<p>A) Are you sure the “selective Eating Clubs” are a bid deal on campus, or just the whole Eating Club scene? I have gathered from reading many of these threads that many students are indifferent to the most selective clubs.</p>
<p>B) Are you basing that the “selective eating clubs are exactly like frats” on your experience as the member of an Eating Club or a Frat?</p>
<p>Princeton reps do mention in their presentations that if someone on FA gets into a more expensive eating club, that person’s FA will be adjusted to accommodate the extra cost.</p>
<p>Personally, if 50% of the clubs are on lottery, what is holding back the other 50% to do the same?</p>
<p>Personally, I would love to see all the Clubs go to sign in. But realistically that is never going to happen. </p>
<p>There is probably no one answer as to why students are attracted to the bicker clubs. Some of it is tradition and some of it is probably just human nature. If it’s selective then it must be worth joining (again, for some students…not all) </p>
<p>I know there are some students that are members of bicker clubs that visit this forum. It would be interesting to see why they joined these clubs.</p>
<p>The comparison of Greek organizations and Eating Clubs has made me wonder about certain elements you hear about regarding Greek life. Could some current of former eating club members answer whether the clubs have any of the following: a) hazing or pledge obligations b) rituals and ceremonies such as for initiation c) special songs, oaths, secret signals (lol) and d) time or event work commitments which may have penalties attached for failure to participate? I’ve heard of these things being a part of some (most?) frats and sororities, but I have no idea if they happen in the clubs.</p>
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I’m basing it on my view that what quacks like a duck is probably the close relative of a duck.</p>
<p>The bicker clubs are those that more people want to be in than there are spots available every year. Given their popularity, the members of the club would like some control over who the new members are. Take, for example, that last year Tower had 219 bickerees for 90 spots. Tower’s members would rather have the new members be the 90 people they enjoy being around the most rather than just 90 random people from among the bickerees. That’s why they have bicker.</p>
<p>The sign-in process is normally described as a lottery system, but the only sign-in club that fills up consistently in the first round is Charter. There’s not really a lottery involved for the other four sign-ins: you sign up and you’re in as far as the first round is concerned.</p>
<p>While the clubs evolve over time and every club is different I will answer my experience.</p>
<p>a) hazing or pledge obligations
None</p>
<p>b) rituals and ceremonies such as for initiation<br>
Yes, we had voluntary ceremony for greeting new members. </p>
<p>c) special songs, oaths, secret signals (lol)
No
d)time or event work commitments which may have penalties attached for failure to participate?
No</p>
<p>What we did have was a small community which allowed each member to know everyone in the club. You had the opportunity to relax with your friends. </p>
<p>To Hunt: Homo sapiens and chimpanzees are close relatives but most of us consider the difference to be significant. Some of the significant differences between Princeton eating clubs and Greek organizations:</p>
<p>1)Coed. This goes a long way to avoiding the boys will be boys problems.
2)If you decide to drop your membership in a club you have a place to live.
3)Students join in their sophomore year. At many universities rush is early in the freshman year. Princeton students have the opportunity to make friends outside of their frat or sorority.
4)Membership in selective clubs is frequently based on student activities. Believe me many students do not want to join the club dominated by the football team, the lacrosse team, or students who major activity is theater. Many students prefer to be in a sign in club that has a very diverse membership.
5)Students that do not join a club are not denied a social life. Access to the clubs is easy for non members.
6)No hazing
7)Few or no rituals
8)At many universities there is a perceived rank of the frats and sororities. Most Princeton students feel that their club is the best.</p>
<p>Thank you, PtonAlumnus. All those things I asked about are practices that reinforce group cohesion and commitment. Nothing wrong with that, but there are trade-offs to belonging to a more tight-knit kind of group, with specific obligations and rituals. Those elements and decreased social flexibility were what made me decide against going Greek back in my college days. </p>
<p>My sense from what you have outlined and past discussions are that the Eating Clubs are less cohesive and more socially fluid than typical Greek houses, not to mention less caught up in ritualistic traditions.</p>
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<p>To clarify things further, for the Princeton Eating Clubs this would be the Spring Semester of Sophomore year and only as a “Social” member. The full membership, including dining, begins Junior year.</p>
<p>I would just say that based on prior discussions of Greek life at different schools, the Greek system at some schools is quite similar to what PtonAlumnus has laid out (except for being coed). At least, that’s what the alumni of the Greek system at those schools would say. For example, some schools don’t have freshman rush, at some schools some or even none of the Greek organizations have housing, hazing varies, etc. And I think Pton Alumnus has hedged the question of perceived rank a bit. I think this is also what somebody at any school with a Greek system would probably say–at least if he’s in one of the organizations.</p>
<p>But let me add that I appreciate PtonAlumnus’ list. This is the kind of thing that prospective students want to know about. Every college has a few things that its supporters have to explain/defend/minimize. For Yale (for example), it’s New Haven. For Princeton, at least one such thing is the role of the eating clubs.</p>
<p>At Princeton, the use of the eating club facilities continues long after graduation as Alumni use it for tailgating before and after football games and to gather during the May/June Reunions weekend, which typically sees around 25,000 alumni, family and friends come back to “Old Nassau” during the annual Thurs-Sunday event.</p>