Four clubs increase number of shared meal plans

Representatives from Cap & Gown Club and Tower Club said their clubs will offer the same number of shared meal plans as last year, with 10 and 14, respectively. Representatives for Ivy Club, Cottage Club, Tiger Inn and Charter Club did not respond to requests for comment.

Executive Vice President Mark Burstein declined to state how much the University will charge the clubs for these plans next year, saying he had been asked by some clubs not to comment on their financial arrangements with the University.

In interviews with The Daily Princetonian, club presidents and graduate board chairs indicated that the University is requesting around $600 per shared meal plan. Last March, similar discussions with club officers indicated the cost was roughly $1,000.

Last year, the University standardized the amount each club pays per shared meal plan to make the program more equitable, Burstein said. The standardization came after several graduate board chairs learned different clubs were being charged different rates.

“A common cost as well as a minor yearly escalation amount for this program was determined last year for all ten clubs,” Burstein said in an e-mail. “This calculation continues for this year.”

Maneyapanda said Quad chose to double its shared plans to satisfy students who are reluctant to sacrifice all the benefits of a residential college for those of an eating club.

“Given that Four Year College housing has proven to be quite popular, we plan to dramatically expand the number of shared meal plans offered by our club,” he said. “All members of the University undergraduate community should have the opportunity to enjoy the social experience that our club offers.”

Colonial is increasing its number of shared meal plans from 20 to 30, split evenly between juniors and seniors, Colonial Chair Llewellyn Ross ’58 said. Ross cited heightened demand as the reason for the change. “We [also] talked to undergraduate officers, and we thought it would be a good thing to be doing,” Ross said.

Terrace will offer eight shared meal plans next year, up from six this year, club president Alex Brady ’10 said, adding that Terrace, unlike the other clubs interviewed, will not dictate how plans are divided between classes so as to increase “flexibility.”

Cloister is offering two more shared meal plans to seniors than it did last year, when both its junior and senior classes had eight shared meal plans.

In an e-mail to Cloister members, however, club president Aran Clair ’10 said that the raised cap might not accommodate every member who wants a shared meal. Clair explained that the cap is based, among other reasons, on cost considerations.

But not all clubs have met with such demand. Tower Graduate Board chairman Greg Berzolla ’87 noted that last year only four Tower members accepted shared meal plans. Because of this apparent lack of demand and because Tower leadership believes that eating meals at the club is an integral part of being a member, the club will continue to offer 14 shared meal plans split evenly between members of its junior and senior classes, Berzolla explained.

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“We don’t offer social-only membership,” he said. “We offer a shared meal plan for those students who feel that that works for them, and we do it to cooperate and in good will to the University.”

Last year, Ivy offered four shared meal plans, and Cottage and TI offered six. Charter decreased the number of plans it offered from 30 to 17 after the administration requested that the club pay the University three times the previous year’s amount per shared meal plan.