Tower, Colonial most selective eating clubs

MONDAY, February 10 — 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.

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.

Ivy's numbers indicate a slightly higher 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.

The 118 students who bickered this year, 84 were selected as new members, club president Eric Pearson '03 said.

Cap and Gown president Matt Groh '03 did not release exact numbers, but said that the club had between 120 and 160 bickerees and offered bids to "roughly half."

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Last year, the club accepted 84 students of the 158 who bickered.

Tiger Inn's president declined to comment.

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.

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The ICC moved up the date of the second round of sign-ins to increase participation in the club system, Szostek said.

In the past, many students have decided to go independent after being denied a bid by a Bicker club.

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.

First-round sign-ins increased from 335 last year to 370 this 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.

According to several people, 180 students — about 50 percent of the total number who participated in this year's sign-in process — selected Colonial as their first choice.

Charter, which filled its membership in the first round, also filled its wait list in the second round.

This is the latest of four years of growth for Colonial and Charter that began in 1999. In that year, they received only 24 and 25 applicants respectively in the first round of sign-ins.

In a significant turnaround for Quadrangle, which had the lowest number of new members of any club on the Street in spring 2001, the club filled its membership to capacity in the second round..

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.

While not all of the students were accepted to their first choice clubs, all were offered membership by at least one club, Szostek said.