Readers of Barry Caro's column on Friday entitled "Geeks bearing gifts" (regarding the University's supposed intentions toward the eating clubs) might be interested to learn some pertinent facts as they consider the issues he raises:
1. While the majority of upperclass students choose to join eating clubs, approximately 30 percent (or 700 students) choose not to. The new four-year residential colleges are intended to provide additional choices to those students who, for whatever reason, seek an alternative to the eating clubs.
2. When it is complete in 2012, Princeton's four-year residential college system will have the capacity to house and regularly feed approximately 250 upperclass students. But the University's plan to add 500 students by 2012 means there will be an additional 250 upperclass students (bringing the total to 2600) who need to be housed and fed. As these numbers indicate, the introduction of the four-year residential college system will have little impact on the number of upperclass students who choose whether or not to join an eating club. These numbers also make it clear that, as it has since the very beginning of the clubs, the University will continue to rely on the eating clubs to feed the majority of its upperclass students.
3. This spring and summer, I met with the undergraduate presidents and the graduate board presidents of all 10 active eating clubs to explore ways to strengthen the relationship between the clubs and the University. (In addition, I have been working with the president of the Dial Elm and Cannon club to assist that eating club in its quest to reopen as soon as its building renovation is completed.) We are currently discussing specific ways that the University can help all the clubs operate more efficiently and ensure that they are affordable to students of all incomes. Together we are developing ways for the clubs and the new four-year residential college system to work together to ensure that all Princeton upperclassmen have a positive experience wherever they choose to take their meals. These discussions have been cordial and productive, and we hope to reach a mutually beneficial agreement later this fall.
4. Finally, the video clip that Caro mentions was excerpted (by its director) from a 2003 senior thesis documentary about the social experience at Princeton. Everyone who appears in the film was a Princeton undergraduate. The video was shown by the staff in Rockefeller College at a meeting for Rocky sophomores to help them plan for the major decisions they will be asked to make in the year ahead — primarily academic choices, but also choices related to their social life. When people have important choices to make, I believe it is helpful to provide them with all the available information and then let them make up their own minds. That is why the Office of Admission and the Inter-Club Council are working together to better represent the eating clubs to prospective applicants to Princeton.
The facts speak for themselves. The University is working to create additional options for all students and to strengthen the ties between the eating clubs and the University. Mark Burstein is the Executive Vice President of the University. He can be reached at burstein@princeton.edu.
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