Since April, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the University’s 11 eating clubs to shut their doors and operate on a solely virtual basis. The eating clubs, however, plan to welcome new sophomore and junior members this spring through a virtual Street Week and Bicker process.
Street Week will take place online from Jan. 31 to Feb. 13, 2021, according to Interclub Council (ICC) president Karthik Ramesh ’21.
“The ICC surveyed the sophomore class to gauge interest in joining clubs next semester,” Ramesh wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “The response was overwhelmingly positive, and we are very excited to welcome the Class of ’23 in the spring into our strong virtual communities.”
Though Street Week and Bicker have always been in-person events, Ramesh confirmed that both processes will be virtual.
“We’re respecting the University’s outlines on social events,” he wrote. “We think it’s very unlikely that large-scale, in-person indoor gatherings will be safe by February.”
Ramesh added that the ICC is working with club officers; graduate boards; Sexual Harassment/Assault Advising, Resources and Education (SHARE); Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS); and the Office of Campus Life to mitigate the “numerous challenges” that a virtual Street Week presents.
According to an email sent to Cap & Gown Club members, which the ‘Prince’ obtained, “the first five days will be reserved for Bicker, the following seven for discussions, and the final two for sign-ins.” A Cap officer clarified that “signing-in” is the official term for the period of time “set aside for new members to get to know each other and other club members.”
The email also laid out a basic plan for Bicker: One-on-one conversations will take place between current and prospective members over Zoom, with pairs being matched in breakout rooms.
Ramesh confirmed that the ICC established this timeline, which will apply for all Bicker clubs. He indicated that sign-in clubs, which do not hold Bicker or discussions, will host events at their discretion during those 12 days, “as they have always done.”
Instead of strictly afternoon and evening Bicker sessions, Cap plans to utilize blocks of time during “EST morning and afternoon slots” during the first day and then “EST evening slots” on subsequent days, with provisions made for international students. The club aims to complete Bicker conversations in three days, leaving “two grace days between Bicker and discussions for members to write cards and recuperate.”
Discussions at Cap, according to the message, will take place over Zoom as well, with votes on prospective members taking place via the Zoom polls function. The discussions are expected to last seven days, with three to four hours of discussion per day.
The email encouraged members to recruit sophomore students from their extracurricular activities, as well as to keep diversity, equity, and inclusion in mind during the “inherently exclusive” Bicker process.
A similar email sent to members of Tower Club in October included fewer specifics but confirmed that Bicker will take place and invited current members to apply to join the club’s Bicker Committee.
Typically, eating clubs attract sophomore students to participate in Bicker and Street Week through guest meals or sophomore-oriented social events. Colonial Club, a sign-in eating club, has been the only eating club so far to advertise sophomore events on residential college listservs.
Such events have included a “Sophomore Social” held on the video-call platform Gather.town and a “Sophomore Spook-tionary” event, in which members and sophomores played games over Zoom.
Though no information on Street Week has been publicly released, internal communication from one eating club suggests that members hope to preserve eating club tradition.
Cap officers wrote to members, “what it means to be a member of Cap has completely transformed over this past year.” They said, however, that participation in Bicker discussions would be “even more important this year … out of respect for the bickerees.”
“COVID-19 has stripped away nearly all forms of social interactions and communities that we used to depend on,” an officer wrote. “I feel it is our obligation to take that request for community from our underclassmen as seriously and as generously as possible.”
Officers of Cannon Club, Charter Club, Cloister Inn, Colonial Club, Cottage Club, Ivy Club, Terrace Club, Tiger Inn, and Tower Club did not respond to requests for comment. An officer from Quadrangle Club declined to comment.
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