Eating clubs: A tale of table manners

The story of eating club etiquette starts in 1815, when dissatisfaction with campus food was nothing new. At the time, all students ate in Philosophical Hall, a building connected to Nassau Hall where Chancellor Green now stands. When the bell rang from the cupola, students formed a line outside the door and were let in by a waiter. Every day, they went to the same seats, arranged by class year, at three long tables. Before the students sat down, a tutor would stand up and say grace.

According to William Selden '34 in his book "Club Life at Princeton," a historical account of eating clubs at Princeton, students could expect bread, butter and milk for supper, the modern-day equivalent of lunch. For dinner, Princeton students were served ham, veal, beef or some other meat with potatoes and whatever vegetable was in season. If there was a dessert, it was either apple pie or chocolate cake. Students described the food as "unusually simple" and grumblings reached fever pitch by the 1840s.

There "was an occasional ripple of disorder, plates with their contents were sometimes turned upside down, and sometimes broken as a gentle criticism by the students of their fare," Edward Wall, a student in the Class of 1848, wrote.

In 1855, the University stopped serving food after Nassau Hall was ravaged by a fire, and students were expected to find their own meals. Most eating clubs were started by groups of students who hired cooks to collectively prepare food for them. Many students thought eating clubs were better alternatives than the University dining hall after it reopened because the food was better and the opportunities for socializing were greater. While some of these institutions inevitably disbanded upon the graduation of their members, others became permanent structures in Princeton's history. By 1895, there were seven eating clubs at Princeton, and they fed one fourth of upperclassmen.

The 1890s marked a time of increased competition among the clubs, with each looking for new members. To attract new students, members changed their strategies from the casual invitation of sophomores to serious recruitment of freshmen and sometimes even pre-frosh. Sophomores even created their own eating clubs, called "Hat Clubs," for which they owned symbolic flannel hats. These clubs served as feeders into upperclass eating clubs. In 1898, the clubs agreed to refine their tactics so as not to target students before their sophomore year.

Around the same time, eating clubs and the larger Princeton community began to expand their extracurricular activities to include more than just dining. Every club established intramural sports teams; football games were an occasion for alumni and students to show guests their newly designed buildings, Selden wrote. Weeknights, students were not permitted in the eating clubs past 8 p.m., and no alcohol was served.

In 1918, then-University President John Grier Hibben, Class of 1882, wrote a letter to the graduate representative of each club, reminding them that Princeton has "a peculiar duty to our country at this time to make every effort to reduce all expenditures to a minimum." Following his advice, several clubs served meals jointly.

Some clubs, facing limited funds after World War I, even had to cut back on maintenance expenditures. On rainy days in one club, it was not unusual to see buckets on dining room tables to catch water that leaked from the ceiling.

But club members still wanted to imitate the sophistication of New York clubs, leaky roofs or not. In the 1920s, Princeton men wore ties and jackets to most meals, and in many clubs, a doorman greeted each member by name.

James, a waiter who served two generations of Princeton students in the Ivy Club, had his portrait hung up in the club's private dinning hall, The New York Times reported. He had a special gift for remembering club members' faces and tastes. One man recalled that James still remembered him when he returned to Ivy after working in China for 15 years.

Though students wanted to eat in style, clubs attempted to keep costs down even more during the Great Depression. Students who couldn't afford the membership fee were allowed to work at the clubs as waiters and get their room and board for free. Even after the end of the depression, the graduate eating club board encouraged the use of student waiters and cafeteria-style serving to limit expenses. As they budgeted, clubs were forced to limit their imitation of exclusive New York clubs. According to Selden, the clubs became more amenable to the needs of the University and responsive to changes in the American economy.

In 1969, the University admitted its first class of women, and minority enrollment increased. In the following decade, there was little female interest in the eating clubs, and the number of independents increased to 600 students.

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Though female interest decreased, many minority students fought for access to the eating clubs. In 1986, Sally Frank '80 filed a discrimination lawsuit against Ivy Club, Tiger Inn and the University Cottage Club for refusing to admit her due to her gender. She eventually won the lawsuit, and by mid-1991 all eating clubs were coeducational.

Yet the presence of women did little to change the eating club experience, students told The New York Times in an article published Jan. 21, 1991. Students said that females admitted to many of the clubs chose to boycott in support of feminist causes. In the Times article, Frank explained that most females who were allowed into the clubs were the friends and girlfriends of club members. Then-Tiger Inn president Stockton Williams '91 said the admission of women was a natural next step and a sign of progress.

While they started because a few students needed to escape dining hall food, eating clubs have now woven themselves into the fabric of undergraduate life. From the Great Depression to discussion over the four-year colleges, eating clubs have proven themselves flexible, welcoming institutions.