Letter to the Editor: Dec. 10, 2008 (with editorial board response)

On Monday, Dec. 1, The Daily Princetonian editorial board voiced its concern and disappointment that three clubs had opted not to participate in a Street-wide event as part of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Maria Flores-Mills submitted a letter to the editor disputing the factual basis of that editorial. The editorial board reconfirmed its original research and offered Flores-Mills the chance to alter her letter, and she declined. Accordingly, her letter appears as she wrote it and is accompanied by a response from the editorial board.

If you would have told me seven years ago I would be writing to The Daily Princetonian to defend the clubs, I would never have believed you! Serving as the liaison from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students to the eating clubs has been a journey to be sure, and, as it has evolved, is today one of the true joys of my portfolio. You got it wrong in the Dec. 1 editorial ("Where the heartlessness is"), and I feel strongly enough about the editorial board's article to write. Many, many organizations want to partner with the eating clubs. To be sure, they are the center of the social scene, and harnessing the power of their respective memberships can be an avenue to capitalizing on the amazing potential of Princeton undergraduate students. Most groups seeking the participation of the eating clubs attend the weekly Interclub Council (ICC) meeting by making contact with me, one of the eating club presidents or ICC graduate adviser Tim Prugar '06. No one organizing the Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (HHAW) event, USG or SVC attended an ICC meeting to coordinate this effort, and their disorganization caused the confusion among the clubs that resulted in this event going poorly. Some presidents received individual e-mails, and others were informally contacted by members of their club, but there was no clear communication about what clubs needed to do to participate or an official request to the presidents to sign on. Some clubs heard about the event only on the day it was to occur, and other clubs who did wish to participate never received wristbands. Two sign-in clubs never heard about the event at all. The clubs are more than willing to help student groups with charitable concerns, but it was not their responsibility to plan and organize the event autonomously.

The clubs have done a remarkable amount of service to the community on a host of levels. Tiger Inn hosts a delightful event at Halloween, which is free and open to the public where local kids can have their face painted, go through the haunted maze in the basement, trick or treat and enjoy a scary story. Cottage Club has partnered to host a holiday open house to raise money for cancer awareness and research. Ivy Club went apple picking this fall and donated all the fruit to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Cloister Inn hosted a bachelor auction to raise money for a charity. Most clubs provide tutoring to their Spanish-speaking staff members who want to learn more English. The Princeton Prospect Foundation and the membership of the clubs have supported Let's Get Ready!, which prepares area youth without resources for other SAT prep courses. The clubs partnered with the Greening Princeton folks and the Princeton Prospect Foundation to change all the light bulbs to more environmentally friendly ones and took steps to switch the carry-out containers to ones that will be kinder to the Earth. The clubs also collected prom dresses to donate to a community organization aiming to provide opportunities for high school students without financial resources the chance to enjoy their proms. Members of eating clubs served as chaperones for a dodgeball tournament, an alcohol-free initiative for high school students at Princeton High School. Terrace club raised $2,500 in a Dare to Care event. The list goes on and on. I don't think you researched the facts very well on your piece, and to deem the clubs that didn't participate in the HHAW event "heartless" was really irresponsible journalism.

Maria Flores-Mills

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students

Response from the editorial board

In preparation for its editorial, the board spoke to club community service chairs with knowledge of the planning that went into this event. After receiving Flores-Mills' letter, the board did additional research to check the veracity of the statements in the letter, speaking to two more community service chairs, including one from a club that did not participate in HHAW night, and obtaining several e-mails sent in the course of the event's planning.

The board's research indicates it is inaccurate to suggest that any of the clubs were not notified far enough in advance by the event's organizers or that the event's failure was a result of the disorganization on the part of the USG or the SVC. Furthermore, in two of three cases, the reasons the clubs gave to the organizers of the event for not participating had to do with liability, not advance notice.

While no member of the SVC or the USG attended an ICC meeting, the event was organized through the Prospect Alliance for Community Action (PACA), a board made up of the community service chairs of every eating club whose purpose is to facilitate inter-club community service. The idea of accepting donations in exchange for access to all the clubs for one night was raised with all community service chairs over e-mail as early as Sept. 29, and then subsequently on Oct. 3, Nov. 1 and Nov. 11, according to e-mails obtained by the editorial board. By early October, all the community service chairs had agreed to take the proposal to their club presidents and clear it with them. The final date for the event - Nov. 22 - was set on Nov. 11. PACA did not wait for approval from club presidents before setting this date.

A few days before the event, three clubs informed PACA that they could not participate. One club told PACA that it had not had enough advance notice to plan the event; the other two said that liability and crowding issues prevented them from going off pass for an evening. The editorial board has stated in the past that it believes liability issues are surmountable with a small increase in security and has noted that several clubs are regularly open to all students while still maintaining safe environments.

The editorial board's original argument was not that the clubs that refused to honor HHAW wristbands do not participate in community service. Rather, it argued that the clubs had missed a legitimate opportunity to be truly inclusive of the entire student body while supporting a good cause. The board stands by this point.