T.I. officers leave two top club posts

Capping a bizarre series of events on the 'Street' this week, the president and vice president of Tiger Inn stepped down yesterday. According to sources close to the club, president Jason Brasno '98 and vice president Jason Wortendyke '98 left office just weeks before their terms expired.

Brasno did not respond to repeated requests to comment yesterday. Wortendyke refused to discuss the issue. Reached at his home in Summit, N.J. yesterday, Tiger Inn's graduate board chairman Robert Hugin '76 also declined to comment.

Until the class of 1999 officers take over, the club's other 1998 officers will be occupying the top positions.

Dry Bicker

In separate but related events yesterday, four of the clubs finished Bicker with a second-straight day being off-tap. The decision for four out of five Bicker clubs to switch to dry Bicker sessions yesterday and Monday came as a result of consultation among the clubs' undergraduate officers and graduate boards, ICC advisor Mike Jackman '92 said yesterday.

Jackman said he was involved in the decision to go dry, although he would not go into the specifics of how that decision was reached. "As far as I know, it was a graduate board and an undergraduate officer decision," Jackman said. He added he did not believe the University or the police were directly involved.

Ivy Club graduate board chairman James Griffin '55 said that he pushed for the move to dry Bicker in response to certain excesses prominent during Sunday's session. "The system itself was under duress," Griffin said.

According to Griffin, Bicker originated as an alcohol-free event. Griffin said he was concerned by recent trends toward a system that places an emphasis on alcohol consumption during Bicker.

"The basic premise is to select people and not to have a party," Griffin said, adding he did not have any specific problem with the way his alma mater club, Ivy, has run Bicker.

Officers of the clubs that went off-tap yesterday and Monday – Cottage Club, Ivy, T.I. and Cap and Gown Club – all refused to discuss the reasoning behind the change. Despite conflicting reports circulating on campus, the only undergraduates who knew the true impetus behind the Bicker changes – the club officers – would not speak with The Daily Princetonian.

Inter-Club Council president Jim White '98 said he was not aware of the club presidents' true rationale for going dry. "I'm totally out of the loop with regard to the dry Bicker thing," said White.

"The ICC doesn't regulate Bicker – the Bicker clubs do that," White said. The sign-in clubs, Tower Club, and DEC remained on tap as of late last night.

Jackman said the change came purely as a result of the officers' recognition of their responsibilities to make sure the 'Street' is a safe place. "It's not easy being an officer," Jackman said. "Sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions."

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According to Jackman, a good part of that responsibility lies in the fact that undergraduate officers can be liable should something go wrong – and have been held liable in the past.