4 out of 5 sophomores indicate interest in joining eating clubs

The high level of interest in eating clubs may provide positive news for the long-term sustainability of the clubs on the Street, which the Task Force on Relationships between the University and the Eating Clubs called into question in its 2010 report.

Since 1,313 students matriculated with the Class of 2014 in Fall 2010, this means that around 85 percent of the class either bickered or signed in.

Out of the 1,113 sophomores who demonstrated interest, only 986 students — or roughly 75 percent of the class — ultimately became members of eating clubs. This is consistent with the estimate provided by the University’s online student guide to campus life, which contains a page on dining options that states that three-quarters of juniors and seniors take their meals at eating clubs.

This difference of roughly 127 students between total eating club interest and total eating club membership for the Class of 2014 indicates that nearly 10 percent of sophomores chose not to join an eating club after not gaining acceptance into their first choice club, be it Charter — which was the only club to fill to capacity in the first round — or any of the bicker clubs.

This year saw a 30 percent increase in the number of students bickering, which can be partly explained by the addition of Cannon as a sixth selective club.

Since exact upperclassman bicker numbers were unavailable for some clubs, these calculations did not include the number of juniors and seniors who were accepted to selective clubs, which represents the minimum number of upperclassmen who could have bickered.

In its report, the task force — chaired by University Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 — concluded, among other things, that at the time there was only enough interest to sustain nine-and-a-half clubs.

“We calculated that to fully sustain 10 clubs would require the participation of about 70 more sophomores [in the bicker and sign-in processes],” Durkee said in an email.

This figure was surpassed this year, according to a previous article by The Daily Princetonian.

Now, not only has an additional eating club opened, but substantially more students have also demonstrated interest in joining an eating club — nearly 85 percent of the Class of 2014, compared to roughly 76 percent of the Class of 2013.

Nonetheless, Durkee maintained that, as before, there is still not enough student interest for the current number of eating clubs. Though the interest in clubs increased, the opening of an 11th club blunted the potential impact.

“There is no way to know if this [year’s] level of interest will be sustained in future years, but there is still reason to be concerned about the long-term viability of the current number of clubs,” Durkee said.

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Total eating club interest was calculated by summing the 138 sophomores who joined Cannon in the fall, the 285 sophomores who signed into a club in the first round and the 690 sophomores who bickered a club in the spring.

This method of calculation assumes that all second-round sign-ins came from students who were not accepted into their bicker club, and may count twice any students who left Cannon for another eating club.

Total eating club membership from the sophomore class was calculated by summing the 553 sophomores who were accepted into their bicker club with the 433 total first- and second-round sign-ins.

Both the current membership and current interest figures are in fact lower than the actual figures, because they do not account for sign-ins to Quadrangle Club, which has a policy of not disclosing its membership numbers.

Durkee said that if the eating clubs can find ways to reduce their overall operating costs it will “take some pressure off of the number of students they need to attract,” he said.

In January, Quad announced a plan to lower membership fees to match the price of a full residential college meal plan in order to attract students who felt the costs of joining an eating club were prohibitively high.

Quad Graduate Board Chair Dinesh Maneyapanda ’94 said that this policy led to a 40 percent increase in the number of students signing into Quad.

According to Durkee, conversations have been taking place between the University and the other clubs in order to help the clubs identify ways to reduce these costs.