Responsibility for club pickups belongs to the clubs themselves
Regarding 'Forbes vandalized in pickups' (Friday, Feb. 4, 2005):
I agree, as J.W. Victor suggests, that it is prudent for RAs to notify advisees of upcoming pickups. However, I would hope that such a notice need only be an explanation that pickups are a loud and celebratory tradition. A reminder to keep trash cans out of the halls during high traffic would help as well. But what many Forbesians faced last Sunday, as they returned to prepare for a new semester, was a disaster zone left by upperclass strangers (some intoxicated) who pounded on their doors, screaming and deliberately overturning trash cans. A residential college community should not have to expect such behavior, much less condone it by having its RAs advise zees on how to endure it. I am therefore shocked and disappointed when Victor, Interclub Council chair, insists that, "the failure was not by the clubs," but by the RAs, in preparing freshmen for the revelry of pickups.
It is ludicrous to suggest that RAs are at fault for the fact that eating club festivities conducted in our hallways developed into chaotic vandalism. Moreover, I am offended that Victor and others find it laughable that some freshmen were intimidated by the pickups. As a former Quad member and participant in last year's pickups, I understand that these activities have no malicious intent and are meant purely to foster a sense of camaraderie between members. I have also seen that these activities can be conducted responsibly under proper leadership. Overzealous displays of club spirit, however, can easily become threatening to outsiders, especially when the trail of devastation left behind is an utter show of disrespect for janitors, residents and University property.
Quite honestly, RAs should not have to worry about maintaining a calendar of annual club debauchery in order to prevent vandalism in residential colleges. By failing to take responsibility for their own actions, club members and officers shirk off upon us the onus of cleaning up and/or apologizing to janitors for extra hours of work. They also demonstrate the myopia that Princetonians are prone to develop when engrossed in their own eating club culture.
Olympia Moy '05
Janitors affected by pickup disturbances
Regarding 'Forbes vandalized in pickups' (Friday, Feb. 4, 2005):
J. W. Victor recently defended individuals who rank "among Princeton's finest." They "ask nothing from the University" yet "give so much in return." Who are these "best of Princeton"?
Are they our janitors, those honest people with the thankless job of wiping up vomit from parties to which they were not invited and clearing away shattered windows they have not broken — all for less than a living wage? Surely, if anyone has the sterling qualities Victor described, it must be our custodians: they receive no praise for getting down in the muck quite literally so that we don't have to. Who else is this "honorable"?
Here's the secret (and the laugh). It's not the janitors Victor has in mind, but rather Victor himself and his fellow "Officers of Prospect."
His argument that janitors are, after all, "financially compensated for their work" and thus have no right to complain about cleaning up everything spilled, smashed or shattered during pickups is particularly tempting to read as a satire.
Moreover, officers voluntarily do the same work janitors perform, as well as providing a lot of fun and — get this — protecting us from gun-wielding gangsters on a weekly basis.
Perhaps, then, the custodial staff might follow the line suggested by Victor himself: to "not be silent" about the abuses they suffer at our drunken hands. "God help us" indeed "when the day comes when honorable" janitors "of Princeton ask: 'What's the point?' "
Mark Alfano '05
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