Tilghman establishes task force to study eating clubs

Tilghman emphasized that the task force is not intended to impose changes on the eating clubs.

“It seems to me that there’s this fertile ground to have a task force of this kind where we can really responsibly sit down and think about this relationship,” she added, referring to recent initiatives like eating club financial aid and shared meal plans.

The task force — chaired by University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 — will convene in October and be composed of 17 members, including representatives of a graduate interclub council, faculty, staff, Diemand-Yauman and six other undergraduates selected through an application process.

In the past, Tilghman has expressed concerns about Bicker, though club officers have not appeared to be willing to change this century-old practice.

“I think the Bicker process is one that divides the student body, that it causes a lot of pain for students who are unsuccessful,” Tilghman said in an interview last month. “If we could evolve into a system where there is a less divisive way for students to become members of eating clubs, that’s what I would like to see.”

Despite those concerns, Tilghman expressed no ill will toward the clubs.

“They are an integral part of this University,” she said. “They are not going away. They are going to be with us. And my greatest hope is that we can go forward as a University with a series of 10 independent eating clubs with a common vision for the residential and the eating experiences of Princeton students that will maximize the joy within the student body.”

She emphasized that one of her goals in creating the task force is for all 10 eating clubs to emerge from the economic downturn.

Durkee noted that, historically, when the clubs have faced financial difficulty, “there have been a number of ways that the University has been helpful to the clubs in addressing some of their financial concerns.”

“I think one of the things that we’ll want to look at is what is the impact likely to be of current and maybe projected financial challenges on the clubs,” he said.

The fiscal difficulties facing both the clubs and the University make it a particularly important time for this dialogue, he added.

“I think there’s no question that we need to have the discussion with an eye on the financial climate,” Durkee explained. At the end of the year, “after we’ve had these discussions and the task force comes to whatever recommendations it has," recommendations will not be automatically instituted, he added. Rather, the task force “will give everyone an opportunity to react to whatever it is that we’ve concluded or decided is worth further consideration.”

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The idea for a task force emerged from a series of conversations between Tilghman and Diemand-Yauman that began last spring and continued through the summer. “We were trying to identify issues that are of equal importance to students and the University,” Tilghman said, noting that the success of the task force is not dependent on the scope of its recommendations.

“It could be that at the end of the study, they will conclude that everything is fine the way things are and the relationships are in good shape,” she said. “If that’s their conclusion, that’s fine with me.”

Diemand-Yauman echoed her sentiment. “I can honestly say that I don’t have an agenda walking into this project,” he said. “My goal throughout this process has been to help shape this task force in such a way that all undergraduate students, members and non-members of eating clubs alike, have a voice.”

“If we meet this goal, then the task force, whether it highlights ways to improve the relationship or decides that the current system is working well as is, will be a success,” he added.

Durkee said that ongoing discussions between Prospect Avenue and Nassau Hall are necessary to maintain the delicate, and at times strained, interactions between the two parties.

“There is a long and somewhat complicated history of relationships between the clubs and the University, and I think in recent years those relationships have been, on balance, quite good,” he said. “And that’s partly because there have been these opportunities for conversation.”