Several hallways in Forbes college were vandalized Sunday night as sign-in clubs picked up new sophomore members, prompting an investigation by the Residential College Disciplinary Board.
A window was broken, garbage was strewn across the floor and silly string was used to spell "Q" on doors, according to Forbes director of studies Oliver Avens. He said Terrace, Charter, Colonial and Quandrangle clubs were in Forbes during the time in which it was vandalized.
Resident advisers (RAs) also reported walls being covered with alcohol.
"There were students who were checked into McCosh from Forbes because of an excess [of alcohol]," Forbes RA Sean Cameron '05 said. "A lot of people came back very intoxicated."
Taking responsibility
At a group meeting early this week, Forbes RAs discussed the possibility of charging club officers or the Inter-Club Council (ICC), said RA Olympia Moy '05.
"To hold them responsible would be going after the wrong people," Cloister president Pat McDonald '05 said after learning of the discussion..
Quadrangle Club has taken responsibility for the broken window and agreed to pay to replace it, club president Jamal Motlagh '06 said.
But the club denied any other wrongdoing, and no club has admitted to creating the mess.
Appropriate action
The Residential College Disciplinary Board discussed the incident after the complaints of several Forbes RAs, Avens said.
He added that it was "too early to say what disciplinary action, if any" would be appropriate.
Pickups occur every year as clubs welcome new members, and are notorious for being loud.
But Avens called this year "unusually disruptive."
Cameron agreed, saying, "I would say this is as bad as I've seen it, and I'm a senior. Custodians had to spend a lot of time cleaning up the mess throughout the college."
Another RA, Philip Hall '05, said janitors had complained to him about the mess in the corridors. "It was embarrassing," he said. "I don't remember any time where the mess was so severe."
Club response
Officers from Quad and Terrace have apologized separately for the incidents Sunday night.
"We regret the negative feelings that have arisen," said Quad vice president Jaclyn Lasaracina '06 in an email to The Daily Princetonian. "The spirit of pick ups is a pure one; it is exciting, welcoming and celebratory . . . it is an occasion we hope members remember fondly; I know it certainly was for me."
Cameron said Quad was the loudest group and picked up and overturned some of the trash cans.
But Motlagh called such allegations "untrue."
"I was personally at the head of our members, and upon arriving at Forbes' main inn, I noticed that there were already some overturned trashcans prior to our members entering the hallway," he said.
Pickup procedures
Only two or three members are allowed into each dorm to pick up members according to Avens. "Clearly, that understanding was disregarded on Sunday night," he said.
Public Safety will escort bicker club members as they pick up students today, he added.
Avens and the three Forbes RAs said that freshmen were frightened by the commotion.
"Some found it 'scary' that groups of 30 to 40 people were running through their hallways, knocking on doors and generally causing mayhem," Avens said in an email.
Moy said that freshmen felt "intimidated and threatened" by pounding on their doors as the crowds passed through the halls.
"Some freshmen locked themselves in their rooms," she said. "Master Lunbeck and Dean Rapelye, who live up the street, said they could hear the noise from their homes. Master Lunbeck thought there was a riot going on outside Forbes."
RA responsibility
But former Quad president JW Victor '05, who is also chair of the ICC and a Forbes fellow, said he had spoken with 50 freshmen and sophomores. All of whom had "laughed at the idea that club pickups were in any way threatening."
Victor also said that RAs should be responsible for informing their advisees about pickups.
"The failure was not by the clubs in carrying out an annual tradition, but by [the] RA, who after having been a student at Princeton for at least three years, failed to notify his freshman zees of what to expect," Victor said.
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