Joining an eating club is a rite of passage for many students. Their clubs become the center of their undergraduate social experience. Choosing an eating club, or being chosen by one, allows many students to define who they are and who their friends are.
Friends
One of the major draws of the clubs is the chance to eat and socialize with friends. However, since many blacks and Hispanics are not in clubs, many of their friends of the same race or ethnicity will not be found at the 'Street.'
Some students said that low participation in the clubs is a cycle that perpetuates itself.
"It totally depends on who you choose to hang around with, whether you choose to hang around with minorities or not. . . This will impact where you go, because a lot of minorities are not in clubs," Aaron Cezar '99 said.
"When you walk into a club, everyone is white, your friends aren't there, and you leave," said Minority Affairs Adviser Maya Yiadom '99.
When Carlos Bermudez '98 signed into Colonial Club last year, he said he was aware that there were five Puerto Ricans and three Mexican Americans who signed in. "We knew we were (going to sign in) at the same place," he said.
Even students who did not belabor their decisions to join eating clubs said the presence of friends joining the clubs was a positive influence.
"It really didn't become a big, major decision for me like it is for some people. . . it was just sort of a last-minute thing. Some of my friends were signing in," Cezar said.
"My decision to join a club was not as drawn-out and thought-out as some people's," Yiadom said. She added that the main reason she bickered Cap and Gown Club was because a lot of her track teammates were also bickering.
"A main reason minorities don't join clubs is that they don't know many people in any particular club, but I see these people in Jadwin on a daily basis," she said, noting that the "athlete culture" of Cap helped her to feel comfortable there.
Some minority students doubted that race or ethnicity was a dominant factor.
When lightweight football player Kevin Roberts '99 went to eat meals at Cap before bickering, he said he enjoyed the conversation. The fact that many of his teammates were in the club made him "very comfortable with the people."
Will Jeffrion '99, a member of Tiger Inn, said his decision was based on "cliques" and personalities rather than on racial identities. He said he bickered T.I. because that was where all his friends were bickering. "Some cliques might just not appeal to different minorities. . . I don't think it boils down to the race issue," he said. He said that minorities may just go to a club and say, " 'these are not my type of people.' "
He added that minorities may have trouble integrating into the club scene if they see their race as their defining characteristic.
Double life
Many black and Hispanic students said they find themselves living in two different worlds: at the 'Street' where they are minorities in a majority culture, and another within ethnic organizations where they are the majority.
"I feel that the two parts of my life aren't integrated at all," said Jessica Vasquez '98 of her involvement at Ballet Folklorico and Colonial.
Concern over this double life stretches beyond involvement in ethnic groups and eating clubs. Students said it goes to the heart of friendships and all social interactions. At eating clubs, where the majority of students are white, the circle of friends of most club-going minority students may be predominantly white as well. In black or Latino ethnic organizations, the friends of most minorities are predominantly members of their own ethnic group.
Victoria Coleman '99 said she has roughly equal numbers of black and white friends. However, she said she finds she relates to them differently.
"I see a change in how I interact with my white and black friends, in the way I speak," said Coleman.
There are also pressures on students from within their ethnic groups.
"Black people don't want you to hang out with white people. They call you an 'incog,' " said Ayana Mangum '98, a black member of Colonial.
The term "incog" – short for "incognegro" – is a slang term used by some members of the black community to categorize someone who is not perceived as true to their ethnic identity, Mangum explained.
One student, who wished to remain anonymous, said that there are "rules" that promote race-conscious differentiation and must be followed in order to belong to the black subculture. If an individual breaks that code and chooses to socialize in a predominantly white environment, "people begin to wonder, does he have identity issues?" she said.
Many black students said they often feel caught in the middle of the two-sided pressures of race consciousness. While some whites make minorities feel as if they are representatives of their race rather than individuals, some members of their own ethnic groups make them feel like sellouts to their own race if they interact with white students as individuals, students said.
"People think that being in a club means that you are masquerading as a white person," said Erica David '99, a member of Campus Club, who said the eating clubs are often seen as being a part of the white "establishment."
Many students find it difficult to balance both worlds. Students like Mangum said they often swing between the two non-converging worlds in search of a balance. Mangum, who went to high school in a community of largely West Indian blacks in Long Island, said almost all her friends freshman year were white or Asian. During her sophomore year, about half of her friends were black. As a junior, almost all her friends were black. This year, she said her friends are more diverse but again mainly white and Asian.
Accommodating interests in both the minority and non-minority communities may be difficult. This year, the TWC hosted its Cabaret Night, a popular annual event frequented by many minorities, on the same evening as the Winter Formals at the eating clubs.
Yiadom said the TWC seemed to bill Cabaret Night as an alternative to Winter Formals.
"It seemed exclusive . . . forcing minorities to choose one or another," she said.
According to MAA Kevin Hudson '98, chair of TWC's Governance Board, many minorities did both, by going to Winter Formals first and then coming to Cabaret Night.
That shows, Hudson said, that "minorities live a double life sometimes."
"I have my 'Street' life and my minority-friends life," Ivy Club member Atu Darko '99 said. "I feel as if I'm riding the fence."
Image
Irrespective of background, most students said club image is the deciding factor in the selection process. Each club attempts to cultivate a unique image, said Kris Smith '98, former president of Campus Club.
Many minority students said that image plays a significant factor in determining which clubs blacks and Hispanics choose to join.
Some students described a club's image in terms of the numbers of minority members. Hudson said clubs with low minority membership can make prospective minority members feel isolated and perhaps even ostracized.
"The fact that everyone (in clubs) is white is a factor. . . (whites) have different ways of relating to each other," said Hudson. "College is really about growing up and finding out who you are. . . when minorities look at eating clubs, it's all white."
The 'Street' "is a predominantly white scene," said Roberts.
Some students, like Darko, said they bickered because of curiosity about an atmosphere that on the surface did not seem to be friendly to minorities.
"I didn't feel I fit in perfectly at any club, and I am quite an adaptable person," Darko said. "Ivy had a mystique," he continued. "Then you hear that there are no minorities in the club and you start to wonder, why is that?" He added that he bickered partly to find an answer to his question.
"I had never been in the club before Bicker. I couldn't get passes because I didn't know anybody," he said.
Others said low numbers of minority members are more likely to drive minorities away from the clubs.
Former Charter Club and Inter-Club Council president Jim White '98 agreed. "Maybe being one of five blacks in a club makes you not feel comfortable joining in as a sophomore," White said.
"More people are willing to join if there are more minorities already in the club," Yiadom said. However, she stressed the importance of the impression a club gives to minorities.
"In Cap and Quad, if hip-hop was offered, people would go. However, if T.I. or Cottage offered hip-hop, people would not go," said Yiadom, explaining that Cap and Quad are perceived as being "friendly to minorities."
She added the example of "Gangsta night" at Cap to demonstrate that if a club has a reputation for being friendly to minorities, minorities will attend events there. "I was there at Gangsta night in Cap, and I took pictures. There were minorities in almost every picture," she said.
If a club's image detracts from its ability to attract minorities, then perhaps a source of the large minority base at Stevenson Hall – a University-run dining facility on Prospect Ave – is the fact that it has no image at all, Stevenson vice president Brian Lewis '98 said.
"What is Stevenson? You can't define it," Lewis said of the club's identity.
The absence of a defined identity has enabled Stevenson to change with its members. In recent years, the hall has struck up an informal relationship with the Third World Center, Lewis said. According to Lewis, the two organizations have cosponsored various events such as this year's Winter Formals when Stevenson hosted the dining portion of the evening while TWC hosted the after-dinner entertainment with "Cabaret Night."
There is a lot of overlap in membership, Lewis said. "We would be competing if we did separate events," he added.
Steventson publicity chair Shalini Alisharan '98 said she feels club activities are driven more by current membership than by tradition. Last spring, Alisharan, a Canadian of Jamaican origin, organized a "Caribbean Night" theme for Houseparties.
"I've always been in an environment where I was a minority. I never thought I'd get a chance to do a thing like this," she said.
Alisharan said she feels Stevenson is more "attractive" to people of diverse backgrounds because its activities are "very much dictated by the current staff." An eating club, she said, may not be as "flexible" to the desires of a newly diverse membership.
According to Lewis, an MAA, Stevenson is home to "all kinds of social minorities," including a large population of nondrinkers, engineers and international students. "(At Stevenson) they don't feel their identity is threatened," he said.
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