Two clubs see charges withdrawn

Princeton Borough dropped charges against the presidents of Cloister Inn and Cottage Club on Monday, ending more than a month of tension since they were charged with serving alcohol to a minor and maintaining a nuisance.

In hearings Monday, Borough judge Russell Annich dismissed charges against Cloister's Savannah Sachs '08 and Cottage's Vince Ley '08. One witness recanted his statements to police, and another witness' statements to police seemed to have been misinterpreted. Charges are still pending against Tiger Inn president Chris Merrick '08, though a hearing is scheduled for today.

Borough prosecutor Kim Otis said that, from his perspective, the "cases did not shape up to being prosecutable. The evidence was just not there, and I have to prove these cases beyond a reasonable doubt."

G. Robert Wills, the attorney for all three clubs, explained why he thought the charges filed Oct. 10 were dropped.

In the case of Cloister, Wills said, a police officer questioned an intoxicated freshman who admitted that she had been drinking, that she was underage and that she'd visited Cloister that evening.

The student later explained that she had been drinking in her dorm and then went dancing at Cloister. At no point, however, did the student say that she had been served alcohol at Cloister, Wills said. "She told the officer that she drank alcohol and that she was at Cloister, but she never said that she'd been drinking at Cloister."

The case against Cottage was also based on a statement given by an intoxicated underage student, in which he said he had been drinking at Cottage, Wills said. But when Borough Police conducted a follow-up interview with the student, he told them, "I don't know why I said that [I'd been drinking at Cottage]," and denied having been served any alcohol there, Wills said.

Both witnesses, he added, denied being served alcohol at the clubs "shortly after the incident," but the charges were not officially dropped until Monday because "we wanted all three cases to be dealt with at the same time."

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The case against TI, though, is more complicated. Charges were filed after an underage student visiting from another school became intoxicated and told police he had been drinking at TI.

But the Princeton student with whom the visiting student was staying said he was sure that neither he nor his friend had been at TI at any point during the night in question, Wills said. Furthermore, to enter the club the visiting student would have needed a pass to TI, something the student's host said he had not given to the visitor or used himself.

When the University student was asked why his friend said he'd been drinking at TI, he answered that TI was probably the only club whose name his friend knew, Wills said.

Otis declined to discuss the charges against TI, citing the case's pending status. "That would be like discussing strategy for the second half of the game while you're still playing," he said.

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Wills said he is unsure whether the TI case will be dismissed or will have to go to trial. "From my perspective, it looks pretty good," he said. "I've got a statement from a kid who says they were never there."

Merrick, the club's president, did not respond to requests for comment.

What comes next

Club trustees and advisers lauded the decision not to prosecute Sachs and Ley, saying the charges against them had not been justified in the first place. "I am relieved that the charges were dismissed, but not at all surprised given that the alleged incident never happened," Sachs said in an email.

This isn't the first time charges against club presidents have been dismissed due to lack of evidence. Interclub Council graduate adviser Tim Prugar '06 said that in some past cases witnesses have also recanted their statements against eating clubs. "It is not uncommon for a student who has been drinking on campus, when confronted by police or Public Safety, to blame an eating club either out of panic or confusion," he said. "Usually, once they sober up, the truth comes out."

Cloister graduate board chair Mike Jackman '92 said he thought police had not investigated sufficiently before charges were brought against Cloister. "I would like to see a process which was more thoughtful and careful on both sides of Nassau Street," he said, "such that you don't have a situation where a student like Savannah is charged when she did nothing wrong and Cloister Inn did nothing wrong."

Wills said he believes the police should not charge eating club presidents with serving alcohol to minors, but should instead go after the people who actually dispense alcohol to underage students in the clubs. "The eating club presidents are just sitting targets," he said.

Otis stressed, however, that he isn't out to get the clubs, adding that he thinks the Street is generally making progress in combating underage drinking. "I'm not on a rampage to control [the eating clubs] in any way," he said, "and in fact I think most of the problem drinking is going on in dorm rooms, not in the clubs."

Despite the dismissal of the charges against her, Sachs said Cloister will continue to take steps to protect students who visit the club. "As always, Cloister will continue to employ both bouncers and bartenders, wristband those who are of legal drinking age, provide alternative beverages at all times and have CPR-certified club officers on duty each night we are on tap in order to maintain a safe environment," she said.

Ley said he is "of course relieved that the charges have been dropped and [that] we can all move on from this episode." He added that he is "proud of the steps Cottage and the ICC have taken in recent years to continue to make the Street as safe as possible."

Wills, on his part, criticized the minimum drinking age. The legal restriction on serving alcohol to anyone under 21 years old is, he said, "ridiculous" and "as unrealistic as prohibition was in the 1930s."

"[When you're under 21] you can vote, you can sign a contract, you can go into the Army, you can kill people in Iraq, but you can't drink," he said. "That makes absolutely no sense."