Tiger Letters offers paper note exchange for Valentine's Day

After receiving substantial followings on Facebook of more than 1,800 friends each, the moderators of Tiger Compliments and Tiger Admirers — two Facebook accounts that allow students to compliment each other anonymously — decided to expand their service for Valentine’s Day and arrange an offline handwritten note exchange. The exchange, called Tiger Letters, functioned similarly to the Facebook posts by allowing students to write anonymous Valentine’s Day letters to each other through a volunteer-based delivery service.

Tiger Letters received approximately 70 letters between Sunday and Thursday, according to its creator, a female senior and the moderator of Tiger Compliments who was granted anonymity because of the nature of the project.

Almost all of the letters were delivered to underclassmen living in the residential college system, with the majority of those recipients being freshmen. As of Wednesday, only five letters were addressed to residents in upperclassmen housing.

“We thought it would be really cute if we did physical letters instead of literally just the online compliments,” said the Tiger Compliments moderator.

The moderators of Tiger Compliments and Tiger Admirers created a Facebook event on Sunday to advertise Tiger Letters and explain how the event would work. The event description encouraged students to write handwritten notes to their “favorite people on campus” and mail them to one of four designated Frist mailboxes. The notes were then distributed by delivery volunteers to the dorm rooms indicated on them.

Although the online forums for Tiger Compliments and Tiger Admirers extend to faculty and graduate students, the moderators decided to limit Tiger Letters to undergraduate students only for logistical reasons.

Although she was unsure of the exact numbers, the creator also noted that more letters were addressed to female recipients than to males.

Tiger Compliments and Tiger Admirers are not recognized by the University as official student organizations which make it challenging to receive funding through the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and USG Projects Board. For this reason, the moderators were not able to secure University funds for stationery, markers and other card-making supplies. Tiger Letters writers supplied their own materials.

“We tried USG, but they can’t really give out money to another program that’s not under their administration,” the senior said.

In addition to Tiger Letters, the creators are hoping to organize future events that may require more financial backing.

“We’re actually considering trying to apply under ODUS or something — getting recognized somehow — because we have quite a few ideas in the pipeline that will require funding,” she said.

One idea that they have brainstormed is Tiger Serendipity, where students would be able to sign up for a coffee or ice cream date with a randomly assigned peer. The idea is similar to PrincetonLunch, a program started last year that paired students for friendly meals, but Tiger Serendipity creators are hoping to incentivize the meet-ups by providing participants with gift cards for ice cream or coffee on Nassau Street. According to the creator, Tiger Serendipity would not be a romantic meet-up, but a way for students who would not normally meet to get in touch with each other. No formal arrangements have been made for this event yet.