Tower heavily bickered as most sign-in clubs fill up

The eating clubs welcomed their new members this weekend as Bicker and second-round sign-ins drew to a close.

Tower Club, with 161 hopefuls, had the largest Bicker class. The club welcomed 86 new members, club president Jon Sprouse '03 said.

"We're very happy with our new members," he said.

Tower's numbers remained comparable with last year's, when it welcomed 94 students out of the 157 bickering.

Ivy accepted 64 of 106 bickerees, club president Rob Neely '03 said in an email. Ivy's numbers indicate a slightly more generous acceptance rate than last year, when the club took 59 members from 110 bickerees.

Cottage Club, which had the largest bicker class last year — 168 bickerees, of whom 102 were accepted — saw a dip in interested sophomores. Of the 118 students who bickered this year, 84 were selected as new members, club president Eric Pearson '03 said.

"I think we got a great class," he said.

Cap and Gown president Matt Groh '03 did not release exact numbers, but said in an email that the club had between 120 and 160 bickerees and offered bids to "roughly half." Last year, the club accepted 84 of the 158 students who bickered.

Tiger Inn's president declined to comment on its bicker process.

In a change from previous years, forms for second-round sign-ins were due on Thursday, before any sophomores were picked up by Bicker clubs. Bickering sophomores were required to complete the forms.

The new system, which encourages sophomores to remain in the sign-in club system if they are not accepted by their Bicker choice, may have fed into what already seemed to be a markedly strong sign-in year.

Colonial Club filled up and had no space on its wait-list after the first round of sign-ins, and the club was not listed as an option for second round sign-ins.

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Unconfirmed reports indicated that Charter's wait list filled up in the second round and that Quadrangle's membership was filled to capacity in the second round. This would mark a significant turnaround for Quadrangle, which had the lowest number of new members of any club on the Street in spring 2001.

Quadrangle president Corey Sanders '04 declined to release numbers, but expressed enthusiasm about the new members.

"I am happy with the amount of people to join but more importantly the quality of people in our club . . . It is going to be a really great year," he said in an email.

Terrace president Jacob Shapiro '04 declined to comment on its sign-in numbers. Charter and Cloister club officers and Inter-club adviser Tim Szostek '02 were unavailable for comment.