For Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06, the cost of his eating club just wasn't worth it.
The former Campus Club member liked having a club to call his own, but Joseph, who serves as USG president, became an RCA his junior year. The decision was partly because his financial aid package would continue to cover his meal plan.
"If my mom doesn't have to pay anything at all when I'm an RCA, that's definitely going to weigh on my decision," Joseph said.
Now he is independent, and he never finds time to cook between classes and meetings. He goes some days without eating lunch if he can't make the late meals at Frist Campus Center, he said, and goes to Hoagie Haven when he's struggling for money.
But if he could afford it, he would definitely join a club.
"The reason you come to Princeton is because the financial aid is so wonderful. You shouldn't have to pay thousands to feel part of the social scene," he said.
When Campus shut its doors last month, 47 members were forced to adjust to a different social scene. But for Joseph and several other former members, this process happened last year when financial difficulties led them to drop their club memberships.
Socioeconomic issues have always been a hidden part of the Street, and nowhere was this more true than at Campus Club. As members begin examining why the club closed, they have cited as reasons the outside stereotypes of the club, various students' inability to pay high membership fees and the club's transition from sign-in to bicker in 2004.
"In light of Campus' closing, you see a lot of sign-in eating clubs that are full," former Campus member Lyle Williams '06 said. "Why is the club that is stereotyped as the 'black club' or the 'band club' closing, whereas other clubs are not? How does that reflect on Princeton in general?"
Joseph said Campus provided an important "home base" for some black students on the Street, and hopes Campus' closing won't cause the Street to become more inaccessible to black students, as it was four years ago.
"There is a club in particular where I don't feel comfortable at because of my race," he said, without giving a specific name. He added that race is not the only factor that can contribute to discomfort at clubs, as he also feels uncomfortable in some places because he doesn't drink.
Reasons for decline
Many members believe that pricey membership fees and financial aid shortfalls did not just affect Campus' low membership, but also continue to create a socioeconomic rift on the Street.
Former Campus Club president Dean Gill '06, who's currently taking the year off, said "the socioeconomic issue was very poignant." More than half of his classmates who bickered together dropped out the next year due to financial difficulties, he added.
While the University awards financial aid that takes dining hall board expenses into account, Princeton does not provide additional grants to pay for the more costly eating clubs.
This means that when students are juniors or seniors on financial aid, the University provides aid toward the $4,153 standard board rate regardless of their individual meal plan arrangements, associate director of undergraduate financial aid Robin Moscato said in an email.
If they do not have a board charge on their University bill, then this portion of their family payment is available for the club bill.
Eating club board rates are from $900 to $2,600 more than the dining hall plans, depending on the club. Students whose families are unable to pay the difference can request student loans for these amounts, Moscato said.
Gill, who was on financial aid, said he was forced to take out a nearly-$2,000 University loan to join Campus.
Other students, including Joseph, have chosen to go independent or sign dining hall contracts instead.
Gill believes the University will witness a greater socioeconomic divide after it implements a four-year college system in fall 2007.
"You're going to see people on financial aid sitting in the four-year college system," he said, while the students who can pay the eating club fees will keep joining.
Members also believe Campus' decision to switch to a selective sign-in and then bicker alienated students and ignored the club's tradition of openness, contributing to its closing.
"Eating clubs go through cycles ... and Campus was on a downswing," former member Elika Etemad '06 said. "Then the governing people made several decisions that weren't in line with the social situation, like for example, having us go to this half-bicker and then bicker."
Former member Laura Collins '06 speculated that the graduate board changed club policy because trustees saw the bicker eating clubs sustain higher membership and believed higher exclusivity might work for Campus. She said the switch not only disappointed her, but also discouraged some friends from joining.
"Deciding that bicker for a small club with Campus' complete lack of pretentious character was stupid, we convinced the grad board to relent and let us go back to sign-in," former member Matt Samberg '06 said in an email. But the change to bicker had produced lasting effects.
Future plans
Joseph met with President Tilghman last month to discuss increasing financial aid for students who want to join eating clubs. She said financial aid for eating clubs would be increased by fall 2007, according to Joseph.
Tilghman could not be reached for comment.
"The question is how much [aid will increase], and is it going to make a real dent in what students need to add to socioeconomic diversity on the Street," Joseph said. He added that increasing aid for eating club members would lead to greater racial diversity on the Street because of the close connection between socioeconomic statistics and race.
ICC President Jamal Motlagh '06 said the bigger question is whether Campus Club's recent closing is an isolated event or the beginning of a trend of other clubs going under.
"[Campus] is a historical piece of Princeton that has been here for over a hundred years. For it to disappear in a matter of days is a tragic event," Motlagh said. "It might be a deeper problem of what the social scene at Princeton is turning into. If that is the case, Campus could just be the first to go."
Motlagh believes Campus' closing will not directly affect daily life on the Street, but many eating club officers and graduate boards are looking at their own clubs' future, especially as the University plans to open the four-year college system.
Campus' trustees and the University are discussing plans to continue using the building as a social space for students and a place to hold special events for Campus alumni, Vice President and Secretary Robert Durkee '69 said in an email. Both parties hope to solidify plans by the end of this fall, he said.
"Our understanding is that Campus Club's leaders are thinking about donating the club ... instead of selling it," Durkee said. He added that the University and the trustees would agree on conditions for the club's preservation and usage. Both parties want to keep students involved in deciding the club's future, he added.
"It's a loss not to have that diversity [of Campus Club] on the Street. On the other hand, I hope we can take that loss and turn it into an opportunity," Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson said.
Dickerson envisions a place where undergraduate and graduate students could socialize — a club that would be more accessible and friendly to freshmen and sophomores and would not require membership fees.
She hopes this could help mend the "separation based on economic status" that she said exists around the eating clubs.
Dickerson also mentioned the possibility of putting a pub in the building. Though administrators have discussed placing a pub where the Chancellor Green café currently stands, she said Campus is more centrally located on Prospect Avenue.
Campus members move on
For now, some former Campus members have gone independent or dispersed across several clubs, including Charter, Quad and Colonial.
Former Campus members Etemad and Sarah Wang '07 continue to lobby for a dry club, though that possibility is doubtful with the University's planned takeover.
"Many people really want to be a part of an eating club, but the idea of alcohol is a turnoff," Wang said. "It would be nice to offer social benefits that an eating clubs has ... without the alcohol."
They're attempting to collect signatures in Frist this week from students who would join Campus if it opens as a dry club in the future. If they collect about 70 signatures from the classes of 2007 and 2008, they will present them to the graduate board at a meeting later this month.
The University's hope to convert Campus Club into a new, more open venue is part of a broader plan to diversify the social scene at Princeton. Dickerson said other plans are in the works to make the Carl A. Fields center available for social events. The four-year colleges also will offer students many amenities, including more dining facilities, theaters, rehearsal spaces and darkrooms.
"Many of us have active imaginations. We're hoping students will have active imaginations as well," Dickerson said.
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