This spring, nine new members joined the IFC and 17 new members joined 2D. Brown also took 17 new members and has a waitlist of 53 students.
IFC has an “extensive waitlist” for fall 2011, member Patricia Sever ’11 said.
Meanwhile, 2D has established a total member cap of 36 members.
2D member Evan Warner ’12 explained that the increased demand for spaces in 2D has prompted the co-op to test a lottery system for fall 2011 membership.
Interested students who are not selected via the lottery will be put on a waitlist, he said.
“People want a fairer way of deciding who is going to get into the co-op than who’s e-mailed first,” he said.
Brown also used a lottery system to select its new members.
The co-ops have historically admitted new members on a first-come, first-served basis.
But this year, Warner noted, spaces in 2D for fall 2011 are not guaranteed, even with the waitlist.
“We haven’t been this big in anyone’s memory,” he said. “In the past, we haven’t needed to turn anyone away who has been sufficiently persistent — like, if you kept your name on the waitlist — but it’s quite possible that that’s not going to be the case anymore.”
Keung Yoon Bae ’11, an IFC member, attributed the increased interest to a campus-wide rise in awareness of what co-ops are and how they operate.
“We always have guests coming over and saying they’re interested,” she said.
Bae is also a cartoonist for The Daily Princetonian.
Guest dinners sealed the deal for Maia Ten Brink ’13, who was initially deciding between joining Quadrangle Club and 2D.
“I was just more comfortable at 2D. I feel totally at home there,” she said. “And I can always join Quad as a junior.”
Ten Brink noted, however, that she had been confused by the co-op system prior to joining 2D.
“The co-ops all decide at different times,” she said of the member selection process, “and they don’t tell you if you’re in for the spring or the fall. There are arguments about whether the co-op is doing things on the right schedule.”
While the IFC and Brown generally encourage new members to join at the beginning of each semester, 2D has typically accepted new members throughout the year.
Sever noted that, even with the increased interest, expansion of the co-op’s membership is difficult because of space constraints.
And, Bae noted, further renovation of the space to accommodate more members is unlikely.
“Princeton had to find this kitchen for us and renovate it, and as far as I know it’s not really possible to expand on that because it’s in the basement of Laughlin,” she explained of the space IFC occupies, adding that the IFC has not approached the administration about the matter.
Brown member Habin Chung ’12 said that Brown’s membership was also constrained by space limitations. “It’s the fire regulations for our kitchen,” she said, explaining that the co-op couldn’t accept more members than would fit in the kitchen at one time.
Chung is a former executive editor for photography for the 'Prince.'
A possible solution, Warner said, might be for the University to establish a fourth co-op. “If everyone in the co-op came to dinner every night … it would be too much,” he said of 2D. “Any kind of expansion would be expensive and probably not as good an idea as building more co-ops.”
Membership at the co-ops is significantly cheaper than meal plans at residential colleges or membership in the eating clubs.
A semester membership costs $700 for the IFC, $600 for Brown and $500 for 2D while the unlimited meal plan for a semester at a residential college currently costs $2,736.50 and, as of the 2009-10 school year, an average meal plan for a semester at an eating club was $3,480, not including other membership fees.
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