Tomorrow, members of Princeton's Bicker clubs will parade around campus, banging pots, chanting and dousing new members in champagne. For Bickerees whose anxious wait ends with the shouts of their new club, the experience is a wonderful experience. But for those hosed, it's an in-your-face reminder that for some reason, they weren't selected.
Our objection isn't to the festivity. Joining a club should be a celebration. After three days bickering and two waiting, club members and new members have every right to be happy they know the outcome. Nor are we under any illusion that no more pickups would mean no more feelings of rejection.
But some sensitivity is in order. Pickups send a message to the rest of campus. Going from room to room, the clubs take their celebration directly to the doors of those they've just hosed, rubbing salt into fresh emotional wounds. A hosee's only escape is to try to get off campus before the clubs make their rounds.
Students who don't get their preferred sign-in club also can feel great discontent during pickups. While they may not feel as distraught as hosed students, the fact that the disappointment must be loudly emphasized suggests that the kind of pickups all clubs use may be too much too soon.
Princeton history gives a model for a better way. Bickerees used to receive a low-key notification — either a slip of paper under the door or a single club member who would quietly invite the new members to the club. Later in the day, parties were held at the clubs, removed from campus and those who weren't selected. The new members got to celebrate, and hosees were able to go about their day in peace.
Selectivity and the rejection it produces are part of life. After all, 90 percent of those who apply to Princeton experience it. But a club rejection followed by boisterous pickups are an entirely different creature. The practice unnecessarily heightens feelings of rejection.
All clubs would do well to abandon this hurtful ritual.
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