Editorial: The Campus canvas

Campus Club has been somewhat successful in serving as a study and leisure space during the daytime. With its intimate and comfortable setting, the club provides an alternative to the crowded, warehouse atmosphere of Frist Campus Center. Particularly once the club’s printing cluster goes online, it is likely to be a good place for students to work and meet.

While Campus Club is finding a place during the academic week, its role in the nighttime recreational culture of the University has not yet become clear. As reported by the Daily Princetonian today, only a few dozen students stopped into the club last Saturday night: many were there to use the bathroom and none stayed to socialize. This initial unpopularity suggests the University’s vision of Campus Club as a non-alcoholic space on the Street for all to interact in will not come to fruition organically. Currently, students seem unsure about how they should utilize Campus Club. But if the students and administrators in charge of the club can articulate a clearer vision for the space — and support this vision with programming — this problem could be resolved.

In defining this role, the range of options available to those coordinating the club’s activities and events is manifold. There is potential for everything from a non-alcoholic version of an eating club — with music, dancing and live performances — to something completely different from the clubs on the Street, like board games and film screenings. There are already many other organizations around campus — including the UFO, Murray-Dodge and Center Stage — that sponsor alternatives to the Street. It remains to be seen what place Campus Club will occupy among these organizations.

The Campus Club Advisory Board’s plan to create a student programming committee is a good first step toward finding the niche the club should fill. This job, though challenging, is necessary to justify the creation of this new space on the Street. For Campus Club to become a place students will spend time in on Thursday and Saturday nights, the club’s leadership must decide what role it wishes to serve on campus.