Eating club

An eating club is a social club found in American universities. Eating clubs date to the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are intended to allow college students to enjoy meals and pleasant discourse. Some clubs are referred to as bicker clubs because of the process of bickering over which applicants to accept as members. Replaced largely by the modern fraternity and sorority system, eating clubs are now limited to a few colleges and universities, most notably Princeton University, Davidson College, Mount Olive College, and Reed College in the United States.

The origins of such clubs are collegiate dining clubs in the United Kingdom, specifically founded earlier than or contemporarily with the foundation of the early American universities such as The Pitt Club, The Bullingdon Club, and The 16' Club.

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Eating clubs at Princeton University

The eating clubs at Princeton University are private institutions resembling both dining halls and social houses, where the majority of Princeton upperclassmen eat their meals. Each eating club occupies a large mansion on Prospect Avenue, one of the main roads that runs through the Princeton campus, with the exception of Terrace Club which is just around the corner on Washington Road. This area is known to students colloquially as "The Street". Princeton's eating clubs are the primary setting in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920 debut novel, This Side of Paradise, and more recently, the clubs appeared prominently in the 2004 novel, The Rule of Four. In her most recent novel, The Accursed, Joyce Carol Oates repeatedly refers to the Eating Clubs and the Bickering Week, as well as the position of Woodrow Wilson, who was the President of Princeton University at the time of the plot.

Princeton undergraduates currently have their choice of eleven eating clubs. Six clubs—Cannon Club, Cap and Gown Club, Princeton Tower Club, The Ivy Club, Tiger Inn and University Cottage Club—choose their members through a selective process called "bicker", involving an interview process, though the actual deliberations are secret. Four clubs—Cloister Inn, Colonial Club, Quadrangle Club, and Terrace Club—are non-selective "sign-in" clubs, with members chosen through a lottery process. Charter Club previously was "sign-in", but has changed to a system where new members are chosen through a system of points accumulated through participating in club activities. While nearly three-quarters of upperclassmen (third- and fourth-year students) at Princeton take their meals at the eating clubs, the clubs are private institutions and are not officially affiliated with Princeton University.