Lobster, steak and plain white rice

Some students in Wu Dining Hall left the comfort of Princeton Monday night for a stark experience of poverty and hunger.

Students were randomly assigned to one of three income statuses. A small cadre of "rich" students dined on lobster and steak at white linen tables, while those who drew "middle class" ate chicken and beans and the "poor" ate plain white rice.

Monday's Hunger Banquet was part of a week-long series of events organized by the Student Volunteer Council (SVC) for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, seeking to reach out to students and community members alike.

"Five minutes away in Trenton, even just six blocks down Witherspoon Street, people live with homelessness and hunger," said Jessica Gheiler '08, an SVC board member who coordinated the event.

Other events for the week, which runs through Nov. 18, include a vigil to be held outside of Frist Campus Center, a fast to raise money for charity and a talk by author David Hilfiker, the founder of a house to help AIDS victims in Washington, D.C.

Organizers hope the events will motivate students to increase participation in community service activities and consider service opportunities after graduation.

"As a Princeton graduate, you don't have to dedicate your life to community service," Gheiler said. "But it's your responsibility to keep your community in mind."

Unlike many charity drives, the goal of the program is not limited to obtaining donations, she added.

"We want to raise awareness of the problem," Gheiler said. "People won't just talk about hunger or homelessness at the dinner table. We want to give them a chance to discuss."

"We're trying to combat the 'Princeton Bubble,' " added Sita Bushan '08, another SVC board member and co-coordinator of the event.

The organizers hope faculty and town residents will also attend the events. "We have many different groups, different ways to express thoughts on the problem for different groups of people in Princeton," Bushan said. "There should be lots of reflection."

An arch sing Nov. 16 and a talk by Hilfiker will appeal to undergraduates, Bushan said, while the canned food drive Nov. 17 targets faculty.

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Hilfiker wrote "Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen," the book read by all incoming students participating in Community Action, a freshman orientation program.

In addition to the Hunger Banquet, over a thousand students agreed to give up their dining hall dinner today to raise money for Oxfam, an international organization committed to ending hunger.

A Saturday night "Chapel Jam" featured local singing group "Unforgotten Voices" along with artwork created by local artists, many of whom have themselves lived in conditions of hunger or homelessness.

Friday's vigil on the Frist lawn will feature a shack simulating poor living conditions constructed by Engineers Without Borders and speakers from Homefront, an organization that aids and assists New Jersey's less fortunate with a food pantry and housing services.