Improving the Bicker process

Quadrangle Club’s motives were to increase membership. They made the decision to significantly reduce membership fees in hopes of making the club more financially accessible to students. The club did experience a 40 percent increase in first-round membership numbers.

Charter Club was motivated to change their sign-in process for ethical reasons. Last year, they implemented a new, weighted point-based system to evaluate students’ dedication and interest in Charter. President Rodrigo Menezes ’13 indicated that a waitlist is an unfair lack of closure for students who unsuccessfully signed into Charter in the first round. As a result, Charter Club filled its seats in the first round of sign-ins and eliminated its waitlist entirely.

Tower Club also made many changes to make Bicker and pickups a more enjoyable and less stressful process for everyone involved. This year, Tower held its pickups congregation at 1879 Arch rather than the usual Wilson courtyard in an effort to be more respectful to students who did not successfully bicker the club. Furthermore, Tower offered options for students to be hosed by a friend and/or by email. Out of 207 bickerees, 132 selected to be notified by email only, while 40 selected both in-person and email notification. By offering bickerees the option to choose how they would be hosed, the club hoped to make those who bickered more comfortable. The former standard process of being hosed by a friend could be awkward for both the student hosing and the student being hosed.

On the part of all the clubs, a universal sophomore week program took place during the fall term reading period. Each club held one daytime and one nighttime event throughout the course of the week to introduce students to the club and expose them to the club’s individual culture and student life. The program was successful and will happen again next year.

The changes made by the clubs came in a variety of forms, with the unified goal of increasing accessibility and comfort with the Bicker process. The various changes made by the eating clubs demonstrate the clubs’ drive for constantly improving their selection processes. It is promising to see the clubs focus on producing more positive, enjoyable and memorable experiences for the students involved. These changes are a step in the right direction and are something the other clubs should consider doing as well. It is the hope of the Editorial Board that the momentum formed by the creation of new policies will carry forward into next year and that the clubs will continue to strive to better the eating club experience for all Princeton students.