Seventy-six-year-old Bicker system has seen harder times

The year 1904 marked the birth of Bicker. Since then, the annual selection process has become so much a part of Princeton's social history that life without it has been long forgotten, and, until recently, a future without it has been unimaginable.

Much has changed in the 76 years since Princeton's eating club system — and its selection process — provided an ideal social situation for the school's students.

For Princeton's gentlemanly student body, the clubs offered a congenial atmosphere without the crudities purportedly offered by the banned fraternities.

There was a day when Bicker was such a time-consuming process that it frequently threatened sophomore's academic survival.

An "Upperclass Choice Committee" would have been unthinkable in those days: Upperclassmen could eat only at the clubs, and there was no alternative to Bicker.

Since the turn of the century botht he clubs and the Bicker process itself have seen considerable change.

New eating clubs have been built, some clubs have closed, and many have gone non-selective.

Slow Change Coming

The clubs have had to change as the University changed. All but three clubs now accept women, dress codes have been greatly relaxed if not eliminated, and club memberships have become more diverse.

Yet, because of deep-rooted traditions, change has occurred gradually on Prospect Avenue, and some policies concerning Bickerand the clubs have not changed at all in the last 76 years.

Although today the process is used by only five of the remaining 13 eating clubs, Bicker is more popular that it has been in years and its procedures remain unchanged.

While the changes Bicker has seen over the years probably reflect weaknesses inherent in its earlier goals and policies, Bicker's strength is exemplified by its mere survival, despite numerous periodic student efforts to abolish the process.

Opposition to Bicker and the club system existed from their inception. T. Woodrow Wilson 1879, as University president at the turn of the century, spoke out against the lcubs and suggested the unpopular idea of a residential college system as an alternative. In "This Side of Paradies," F. Scott Fitzgerald '17 also denounced Princeton's clubs.

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As early as 1934, a Daily Princetonian poll indicated that a substantial number of students were dissatisfied with the Bicker system.

In response to the poll, the 'Prince' presented to the University a plan to replace Bicker with a group application process.

The plan suggested that sophomores apply to clubs in groups of 20 to 25, and rank the clubs in order of each group's preferences.

The 'Prince' plan also allowed for smaller groups and individuals to join clubs after the large groups were admitted.

No significant change resulted from the 'Prince' proposal.

Anti-Bicker sentiment was renewed in 1957 as the now-defunct Prospect Club became the first to go non-selective, and as the brand-new Wilson Lodge became the first University-run alternative to the clubs.

The Lodge

Wilson Lodge, located in Madison Hall, was the dining option that accompanied the planned residential college, "Holder Court."

The Lodge, which attracted many students from its start, was later called the Wilson society and evolved into what is now Wilson College.

In the 1950s, former University president Robert Goheen '40 and the 'Prince' strongly encouraged social alternatives to the selective clubs, and began citing problems they saw in the selective club system.

This upsurge in the anti-selectivity sentiment reached a climax in 1958, the year of the notorious "Dirty Bicker."

After nine years of guaranteed bids to all bickering sophomores — a process known as "100 percent" — 23 sophomores were not offered bids at any club. Thirteen of the 23 "rejects," as they were called, were Jewish.

National news media picked up on the story, giving Princeton's Bicker process, and the discrimination that seeemed to accompany it, thorough coverage.

In response to a barrage of questioning, club officers admitted they maintained quotas for minorities but asserted such policies were within their rights.

The Interclub Council, chaired by Ivy Club president Steven C. Rockefeller '58, refused to speak with The Princetonian because it printed an anti-Bicker editorial.

But 1959 brought a return of Nicker's popularity yet again.

Not until 1966 was there another collective effort to denounce the Bicker process. Four clubs expressed interest in finding an alternative for Bicker, and by 1968, nearly one-third of the sophomore class decided not to join clubs.

It was in 1966 too that the 'Prince' began its annual editorial stands against Bicker, as other social and dining alternatives were becoming increasingly attractive.

Wilson College maintained its popularity and Stevenson Hall opened as another option for those who did not wish to join a club. In addition, financial difficulties had forced Terrace Club to become a University-run facility.

Still, class presidents, club officers and Bicker chairmen saw no possibility for abolishing Bicker.

The late 1970s marked the next major episode of student opposition to Bicker. Almost half of all clubs had gone non-selective, two residential colleges were flourishing and students were asking for yet more alternatives.

In the fall of 1977, students formed a Social Alternatives Coalition, and organizer Robert K. Massie '78 arranged a massive demonstration to indicate undergraduates "favor more campus social options and oppose Bicker."

Three hundred students assembled in the Woodrow Wilson School plaza, later marching up and down the 'Street' with their lighted candles and chanting, "Options yet, Bicker no! Prospect Street has got to go!"