Initiatives to be relaunched

Two popular Inter-Club Council (ICC) initiatives — A Taste of Prospect and Prospect Initiative — will be launched this month after slight delays.

The ICC hopes that it will be ready to offer A Taste of Prospect, a program through which freshmen are invited to a random eating club for dinner, by mid-October.

"We were hoping to do it earlier this year, but we ran into some technical difficulties," said ICC President Jamal Motlagh '06, who is also the president of Quadrangle Club.

Last year the event took place during the first full week of classes, but was repeated two months later because freshmen in Forbes College were accidentally excluded. By then, the ICC had built a website through which interested students could register for the program.

Motlagh said the code for the site had been lost but the Council is working on rebuilding it. "We are taking our time to work on logistics to streamline the process," he said.

Erica Duke '08, who participated last year, said, "It was one of the really good things I did at the beginning of freshmen year. Actually, one of my really good friends started dating a guy we met at that dinner."

To accommodate everyone, the ICC is planning to offer the program on two different nights. Interested freshmen would sign up for one of the two.

"I have spoken with President

Tilghman, and the University has guaranteed our money for that," Motlagh said. "If last year was any indication, there will be a lot of students that really want to do this."

Duke suggests that all freshmen take advantage of the chance to get to know a club. "It seemed that we had a connection to Tower [Club] after the experience we had," she said. "We felt more comfortable going there."

Though Ivy Club participated in the second round of the program last year, Ivy President Clancey Hilkene '06 said the club would not take part this year.

The ICC is also in the early stages of planning this semester's Prospect Initiative events. Under the initiative, which began in spring 2004, each eating club receives around $2,000 per semester to plan one alcohol-free event on a Thursday or Saturday night. The goal is to offer a dry event each weekend.

The initiative allows clubs to plan creative events without having to apply for Alcohol Initiative funding. Past events have included concerts and mud-wrestling.

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"This is a great initiative, something that we definitely want to continue," Motlagh said. "It is also an agreement we made with a community — to provide a welcoming environment for people who don't want to drink."

Though the events sometimes attract students who have been drinking at other parties, Motlagh said their presence does not diminish the importance of Initiative events.

Scott Shimp '06, a member of Colonial and a supporter of the creation of a dry eating club, agreed. "Whatever gets clubs thinking more creatively about the kind of events they hold is a good thing," Shimp said. "Usually, it's open the taps, have some music and that's it."