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The eating clubs offer juniors and seniors the opportunity to become a part of a close-knit community. They reinforce existing friendships while also introducing you to a wonderful, new, and diverse group of Princetonians. The clubs offer a home on campus where students can come together to enjoy a great meal, take a breath to relax, and develop life-long
friendships.

Hannah Paynter ’19, President of the Interclub Council, President of Cloister Inn

You join the club because your friends are there, but then by the time you graduate you’ve also made dozens of new great friends for the rest of your life.

Liam Morton '02, Cap and Gown Club

Each of Princeton’s clubs is different and through the years has achieved a distinct personality and set of traditions. This is as it should be, for it will be a sorry day for the world if ever such distinctions and peculiarities, and the especial loyalties they invoke, are lost.

Struthers Burt, Class of 1904

By joining an eating club, I’ve gained a sense of home and community that keeps me grounded on campus. I’m incredibly grateful for the life-long friendships I’ve developed and the many opportunities it has given me to grow my community and enrich my Princeton experience.

Rachel Macaulay ’19, President of Tower Club

Eating clubs serve as the perfect bridge between your underclassman and upperclassman years. They reinforce the strong friendships you've established and encourage new relationships with a diverse new group of people. By spending time talking, eating, studying, and socializing, we find that we are surrounded by some of the most brilliant yet modest and talented yet compassionate people, all from incredibly diverse backgrounds with a wide range of different life experiences and stories to share.

Katrina Maxcy '14, Former President of Colonial Club

The eating clubs are so much more than where 70 percent of Princeton juniors and seniors take their meals. They are where students are studying, collaborating on assignments, and encouraging each other as they write the last page of that junior paper or senior thesis. They are where students are coming together at tables to discuss an interesting news story, a great movie someone has seen recently, a campus issue, or any of a cornucopia of possible topics. They are where students are socializing and celebrating the end of a stressful day or a stressful week at high-quality social events. They are where students are engaging in meaningful service to the community outside of the Orange Bubble. The eating clubs are unique to Princeton, and they exemplify what is unique about Princeton — a sense of always being able to come home, whether you're just joining as a sophomore or are coming for your 50th Reunion.

Jean-Carlos Arenas '16, Former President of the Interclub Council, Former President of Charter Club

Eating clubs are places in which to find a home on campus. More than just a building to socialize in, they exist to create that feeling of family and acceptance – somewhere where you’re free to just be yourself, and relax into a community that accepts and loves you for you. Being in an eating club allows you to meet so many great people that otherwise you might never have met – people from backgrounds and cultures that differ greatly from your own, but who will nonetheless become some of your closest friends on campus. Being a part of one of these groups enables you to have a community that will always be yours, and that you will continue to be a part of long after you graduate. I find that in my own experience, I am constantly and unerringly amazed by the people I have met through my club, and by the sheer kindness with which everyone treats one another. I wouldn’t trade my eating club experience for anything in the world.

Conor O’Brien ’19, President of Charter Club

The Eating Clubs
of Princeton University

New Initiatives by the Princeton Eating Clubs

The clubs presented their annual reports to the Princeton Prospect Foundation in February 2018.  The reports detailed a wide variety of impressive new initiatives spearheaded by the clubs, read on to learn more about them below.

Sustainability

Sustainability and decreasing the environmental impact of the clubs is the central focus of many new initiatives of the University’s eating clubs. This is evident through the students’ monthly “Greening the Street” meetings, where representatives from all eating clubs discuss and support each other’s sustainability initiatives. The clubs are thinking long term about their energy use; Tiger Inn has installed motion activated lights, Tower is planning a comprehensive energy audit this Spring in conjunction with ENE202: Designing Sustainable Systems, and Ivy is working on plans to implement a metric-based program to reduce food-waste and electric usage.

Many clubs have transitioned to biodegradable or reusable cups, mugs, straws and takeout containers to reduce or eliminate plastic and Styrofoam consumption (Cannon Dial Elm, Cap and Gown, Colonial, Tiger Inn, Tower). Enterprising clubs have successfully promoted using club-branded reusable thermoses rather than disposable coffee cups (Cannon Dial Elm, Cloister, Cap and Gown), and some kitchen staffs now wash all reusable water bottles and thermoses to further encourage their use (Cannon Dial Elm, Tower).

For any remaining plastic, clubs are exceptionally vigilant recyclers, using designated recycling bins (Cannon Dial Elm) and locally-based, alumni-founded Terracycle to properly recycle plastic cups (Cloister, Colonial, Cap and Gown, Tower). Many clubs are reinvigorating composting programs (Charter, Quad, Tiger Inn, Tower), Cloister Inn is offering more sustainable food options including a vegetarian menu, Quad is working with the University’s Botany Club to bring life back to its greenhouse, and Cap and Gown sends out a fact-of-the-week email to remind members of the benefits of green-friendly living.


Education + Technology

There are concerted efforts to improve study spaces by adding cell phone and computer charging stations (Quad), and installing new PawPrint printers (Quad, Tiger Inn). Many clubs have University precept sections using their meeting spaces and are improving these spaces to be even more accessible for educators (Cannon Dial Elm, Tower). Cannon Dial Elm also allows members to use their conference room for Skype and phone interviews with professionals around the world and hosts weekly bible study with Princeton Faith and Action.

Academic enrichment continues at mealtimes with clubs offering weekly language tables in languages including Spanish, French, Chinese, and Japanese (Colonial, Quad), and Colonial collaborates with the Chinese department to host different professors at their Chinese table each week. Clubs also host professor roundtables, dinner series, and take your professor to dinner evenings (Colonial, Ivy, Tower).

In other new initiatives, Quad has started a club-wide class spreadsheet for members to facilitate study groups, while Terrace has begun a reading and art group for members to discuss poetry and collaborate on art projects. Tower is now requiring their officers and bicker committee attend sexual harassment awareness (SHARE) workshops and Terrace has started a historiography project to create a digitized archive of their fire.


Accessibility

Terrace has made strides towards making their club accessible with expanding financial aid options by allowing members to do work exchange to cover the costs of their dues. They currently employ 40 of their student members with jobs checking meal tickets and serving and cooking food. They further employ Princeton students and alumni by booking them as student performers for tap nights.


Community Relations

Clubs are building bridges to the larger University community by opening their doors as a meeting, study, or performance venue, regardless of club affiliation (Cannon Dial Elm, Quad, Tower, Terrace). The clubs have also helped coordinate an ESL program and curriculum for their staff members who are not native English speakers (Ivy) and Tower now allows members to promote their own service projects through the Tower listserv.

Off campus, Cannon Dial Elm began a community service initiative volunteering in Trenton prisons to help inmates build resumes and practice interview strategies to ease the transition after prison.

This year there were many impressive fundraising efforts for organizations outside of the University through annual events such as Truck Fest Trick-or-Feed. Of note were the funds raised for the medical bills of a Terrace kitchen staff member who was pushed out of a window, medical bills of a Quad club member who passed away from cancer, and a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in honor of Charter’s Head of Security who also recently passed.


Alumni Relations

Clubs are working harder than ever to maintain relationships with their alumni and keep their members involved after graduation. Many clubs are implementing career panels, monthly talks, and mentorship programs to connect alumni and current members (Cannon Dial Elm, Colonial, Quad).

Quad has partnered with the Princeton Area Alumni Association for members to take part in monthly talks sharing their research in STEM fields. Charter launched a new website as a centralized platform for members and is working to completely redesign their alumni website to foster better connectivity throughout generations of Charter members.

 

You can find the clubs’ individual reports to the Foundation on their pages here:

Above Image: Club presidents who are members of the Interclub Council (ICC), with ICC Advisors.

  • 03/27/2018
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