I wonder if they serve Tiger Penis Soup...

November 8, 2003 12:08 PM

Princeton University Eating Clubs A walk down Princeton's Prospect Avenue leads visitors to illustrious clubs like The Tiger Inn and Colonial Club. Ramen be damned!
posted by keli (19 comments total)

My eating club (Elm) went out of business.
posted by neuroshred at 12:30 PM on November 8, 2003

Ivy League kids don't eat ramen, silly keli, they feed on the succulent meat of state college kids who's noodle and rice diets make them ever so tender.
posted by Space Coyote at 1:18 PM on November 8, 2003

I read that "Princeton Univercity Eating CUBS" because of the placement of the word Tiger real close to the the word club. Made the story seem far more interesting than it actually was. ;-)
posted by woil at 1:53 PM on November 8, 2003

(is this one of those threads where people casually drop in to mention their ivy league affiliations?)
posted by PrinceValium at 2:12 PM on November 8, 2003

Yes.

(only posted because I ran across this post while in Charter's computer cluster)
posted by Serf at 2:32 PM on November 8, 2003

The rich are so very interesting.
posted by the fire you left me at 2:35 PM on November 8, 2003

Not nearly as interesting as the extremely well-endowed.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:38 PM on November 8, 2003

Yes, that was a pun, and no, I'm not taking it back.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:38 PM on November 8, 2003

(only posted because I ran across this post while in Charter's computer cluster)
I'm thinking of joining. We'll see.
posted by oaf at 3:13 PM on November 8, 2003

Eat the rich!
posted by inpHilltr8r at 5:30 PM on November 8, 2003

terrace rulez
posted by chaz at 5:40 PM on November 8, 2003

(only posted because I ran across this post while in Charter's computer cluster)

I'm thinking of joining. We'll see.

My dad (class of '75) was president of Charter. I think he's in one of the photos in the basement room where the pool table is.

(My sister and I, being arch-rival Quaker gals, don't usually acknowledge this shameful family secret.)
posted by Asparagirl at 6:05 PM on November 8, 2003

The rich are so very interesting.

Contrary to popular belief, not all Princeton undergrads are rich. Though there are certainly more rich students at Princeton than at many other universities, and these students tend not to have the slightest conception of the value of a dollar, there are also a fair number of students that happened to get in solely because of their high grades and test scores, not their alumni connections or the deep pockets of their parents. As a preceptor (Princeton-ese for TA) I was always happy to get those students--they felt like they'd earned the right to be there, and they were highly competitive, eager to learn, and smart as whips. (In case you're wondering, I'm a Ph.D., minted in November 2001.)

As for the institution of eating clubs--I could tell story after story about how generally odd Princeton undergraduate society is, and what the eating clubs have to do with that, but I don't have time now (and, to be fair, Princeton graduate society is equally bizarre. Both cultures are extraordinarily clique-ish and more or less isolated from each other, as well as the Real World existing beyond the campus). The eating clubs are a both a sign and symptom of this oddness--because they represent the social center of Princeton's campus to an extent that fraternity houses at other universities don't, and since they provide both regular, reasonably good meals as well as a convenient means of socializing, they exacerbate the tendency of PU students to exist without leaving the boundaries of the campus for weeks or even months at a time (yes, this is literally true--I have known undergrads that claimed to go for weeks without even crossing Nassau Street into Princeton's miniscule downtown, and known them well enough to know they weren't putting me on). The friction between town and gown that partly defined my college years at another university (I remember several occasions when I carefully talked myself out of barfights with drunken townies who couldn't stand the so-called "rich kids" that were the town's primary source of revenue, like it or not) is more or less nonexistent in Princeton, at least from the point of view of the undergrads.
posted by Prospero at 7:36 PM on November 8, 2003 [1 favorite]

Long Tall Dex is 100% correct.
posted by bluedaniel at 9:04 PM on November 8, 2003

Gotta say the whole eating club business at Princeton freaked me the hell out when I was applying to schools. Though at the liberal arts school I wound up going to the cafeteria sort of self-segregated by sections, and if I could've gotten my music on the computer I might not have left campus for weeks at a time, so who knows?
posted by furiousthought at 9:51 PM on November 8, 2003

as a "townie" who went to princeton but didn't know the word until I was a freshman, there is some hostility between town and gown but it starts pretty much with the incoming undergrads who expect it to be there and belittle the residents of the admittedly boring town, most of which thinks the university is the bees knees. also, the eating clubs are much less interesting as soon as you aren't sneaking in while in high school anymore.
posted by jann at 11:50 PM on November 8, 2003

Batting 2fer2, Jann nails it 100% solid.
posted by bluedaniel at 12:54 AM on November 9, 2003

Yeah, the eating clubs are not at all interesting -- which is aptly demonstrated by the fact that the only people in this thread went to Princeton and were in an eating club. (Quad, in my case, the most boring of them all).

Hi Jannon!
posted by josh at 9:41 AM on November 9, 2003

Ivy. Long ago.

And I've yet to wake up. That's a lotta drool on me pillow.
posted by bluedaniel at 11:30 AM on November 9, 2003