<p>School - that's understandable; it has, you know, real consequences. But eating club ... frats ... Frankly, I'd rather people who are put off by eating clubs not apply and avoid some bother for all of us.</p>
<p>Just got an inside information:</p>
<p>Terrace is non-bicker & famous for good food and liberalism!!!</p>
<p>Terrace here i come ( after 2 years ! !)</p>
<p>go tiggress</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity...</p>
<p>I've heard African-Americans and Hispanics mention in reference to eating clubs, but I haven't heard anything about the OTHER minority...Asian. Being Asian, and a Princeton hopeful, I'm really interesting in such.</p>
<p>Does anybody know what typically happens in the Princeton social scene with people of the yellowish descent?</p>
<p>My school is primarily white, but after spending a summer of research alongside an Asian (Lawrence Cheng to be more specific), I now have a great affinity for those of "yellowish descent". So if you are Asian and somewhat social, jump on the Princeton bandwagon babbyyyy...</p>
<p>Yippee! Here comes the Asian Eskimo!!! Get ready to frech my fries!!!</p>
<p>"While there has been widespread inattention to eating clubs' community service in the past, the combined efforts of all of the eating clubs have made a significant impact on hurricane relief."</p>
<p>The current issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly contains numerous letters from old and young alumni reacting to an article expressing oblique criticism of this unique Princeton institution, and discussing the administration's apparent efforts, in establishing new living patterns, to reduce the significance of these exclusive organizations which still control social life at Princeton, with 71% of undergrads eventually joining.</p>
<p>Surveys (including one currently commissioned by the Admissions office) reveal that more than a few desirable students fail to apply to, or to enroll at, Princeton due to misgivings about the "Eating Clubs", "bickering", etc.</p>
<p>The alumni seem to alternate between nostalgia for the "good old days" and recognition that the Princeton undergrads of those days were basically white, male, protestant and the p[roduct of exclusive private schools. Some acknowledge that the "Eating Clubs" may be an inappropriate model for today's more diverse undergraduate culture.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Epaw/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/</a></p>
<p>I have been to the eating clubs exactly once since I've been here. I wasn't offended or horrified by them, it just isn't my thing so I didn't go back. I know a lot of other people who have either never been or have only been there once or twice. Speaking for myself, I am incredibly happy here without having explored that particular aspect of the social system.</p>
<p>Eating clubs may have deterred people from attending in the past, but there is no need for them to do so in the future. Starting with my year, there is a four year residential college option. Even now, there are plenty of people who have full and rich lives without joining a club, choosing to join a cooperative or go independent instead.</p>
<p>Clearly, you are not one of those whose misgivings (justified or not) about the "Eating Clubs" caused him or her not to apply, or, if admitted, not to enroll.</p>
<p>There are enough people who share such misgivings, however, to cause concern in Nassau Hall.</p>
<p>I dont think my child has been to an eating club yet since arriving as a Freshmen this year. More than enough to do between classes, study, ECs, events and work. My D/S keeps stressing how diverse the students are and how there is a niche for everyone. With the advent of four year residential colleges, this is likely to be even more than case. Even if eating clubs are not your thing, Princeton can still be a good match</p>
<p>You join an eating club at the end of your sophomore year.</p>
<p>Until the United States Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal in 1991, the "eating clubs" insisted they were exempt from anti-discrimination laws as private associations, and were free to discriminate against women, blacks and jews, as they often did.</p>
<p>WHat was the eating club in The Rule of Four?</p>
<p>Ivy, I believe .</p>
<p>That wasn't all the clubs, Byerly, that was only Ivy and Cottage I believe. Neither of which are representative of Princeton AT ALL.</p>
<p>"Two of the eating clubs on Prospect Street had accepted women by the time Ms. Frank tried to join the Tiger Inn, Cottage Club and Ivy Club, the three oldest at Princeton and the most exclusive."</p>
<p>Byerly, I am usually accustomed to solid facts from your corner but these current comments are hogwash. There are plenty of social outlets rather than the pitiful Cottage Club. To assume that students of the school are so bigoted is rather naive, but maybe I thought too highly of you as a reliable information bank.</p>
<p>My points, which I believe I have made clear, are that:</p>
<p>(1) the "Eating Clubs" are an anachronism;</p>
<p>(2) their image, rightly or wrongly, costs Princeton some applicants who it would very much like to attract; and</p>
<p>(3) the administration is taking concrete steps to reduce the role played by the "Eating Clubs" in campus life, despite the carpings of some old grads in the current Alumni Weekly. SEE: <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Epaw/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/</a></p>
<p>Judging by the volume of alumni and student comment, this is a significant issue, about which people have strong but often conflicting opinions.</p>
<p>harvard's exclusive final clubs are STILL all-male. according to a recent new york times report, harvard women are turning to sororities and their own exclusive social organizations out of "a desire to address age-old discrepancies at Harvard between social opportunities available to men and to women," and as "a reaction to the dismal state of social options for women at the college, which is still dominated by eight musty, male-only finals clubs with names like the Porcellian and the Fly."</p>
<p>from the same article, it sounds like the harvard administration has taken concrete steps to reduce the role played by the final clubs:</p>
<p>"Harvard has marginalized the men's finals clubs.... In 1986 the university ended its ties with single-sex clubs, going so far as to cut off heat to the finals clubs buildings from the university's steam system, and decreed that except for sports teams and choral groups, no same-sex groups could meet or advertise on campus."</p>
<p>the clubs' continued discrimination could be ILLEGAL:</p>
<p>"But at Harvard, where in the 1980's the independently run finals clubs chose to sever ties with the university rather than go coed, women had to start their own groups. (In 1990 a female student lodged a complaint against the Fly with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which ruled that it had no jurisdiction.)"</p>
<p>"Members of male clubs tend to be quietly supportive of the women's groups, if not always for altruistic reasons. 'The general attitude towards them is positive, because the males know that if this issue is raised it could result in their being forced to accept women," said one upperclassman, who asked not to be identified for fear of dragging his club into the debate.'"</p>