Princeton Borough Police have charged the presidents of Tiger Inn, Cottage Club and Cloister Inn with serving alcohol to a minor and maintaining a nuisance, Borough Lt. Sharon Papp confirmed yesterday.
Chris Merrick '08, Savannah Sachs '08 and Vince Ley '08 — the presidents of TI, Cloister and Cottage, respectively — did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.
Papp declined to disclose the date and nature of the incident that led to the charges, but said a court date has been set. She added that the investigation is ongoing and that a statement with details of the incident will be released in the near future.
According to an email from Sachs to members of Cloister obtained by The Daily Princetonian, the club was closed for members' dinner and was off tap last night. TI was off tap as well. It is unclear how the clubs plan to respond to the charges in the long term and whether they will be open for social activities.
Mike Jackman '92 and Hap Cooper '82, chairs of the graduate boards of Cloister and TI, respectively, declined to comment on the clubs' next steps. Arthur Bellows '60, the Cottage grad board chair, could not be reached for comment.
Bill Potter '68, a practicing attorney in the Borough, said in an interview that he is "concerned that [the club presidents] are being made scapegoats" for any incidents of alcohol abuse that occur on club premises.
"I'm not sure they should be held accountable for something they did not control or condone," he said.
Potter added that the more serious charge of maintaining a nuisance — which could result in a property being closed to the public for up to a year — seemed like a "gross overreaction."
"To show a public nuisance, you need to show that there's a pattern of disregarding the rights of others," he said. "It's not something you do based upon a single incident."
New Jersey law states that a person is guilty of maintaining a nuisance when he or she "knowingly or recklessly creates or maintains a condition which endangers the safety or health of a considerable number of persons." Additionally, the charge applies to someone who "knowingly conducts or maintains any premises, place or resort where persons gather for purposes of engaging in unlawful conduct."
Borough Municipal Prosecutor Kim Otis, who served as Colonial Club's attorney as recently as 2003, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Borough Councilman Roger Martindell noted that the charges against Merrick, Sachs and Ley may be narrowed as the legal process continues. "The prosecutor may or may not drop a particular charge," he said, adding that prosecutors tend to "charge as many things as they think can be actionable in a court of law. You can't negotiate charges up, but you can negotiate down."
"I think the Borough is concerned that we find a longterm solution to the problem [of alcohol abuse in the clubs]," Martindell added. "Alcohol overconsumption is the concern of the community."
The Borough's decision to charge three clubs concurrently is unprecedented in recent memory. Martindell said, however, that he doesn't think the Borough is taking harsher measures against the clubs than it has previously.
"I don't think anyone is out to get the clubs," he said. "My observation is that in the beginning of the year the Borough Police tries to make a statement to the community. If the message is received, presumably the police back off. If it's not received, then it becomes a problem, and it needs to be addressed in a more aggressive way."
"I would surmise that [this year] would not be different from any other year," he added.
When clubs have faced legal action from the Borough in the past, the presidents have been targeted first but charges were later transferred or dropped. In 2006, charges against Terrace Club president Patti Chao '07 for serving alcohol to a minor were transferred to the Terrace graduate board, which pled guilty and paid a fine. In May, Colonial president Tommy Curry '08 was charged with serving alcohol to a minor, but his charges were transferred to the club as a collective entity, while the charge of maintaining a nuisance was dropped.
— Princetonian staff writer Sam Fox Krauss contributed reporting to this article.
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