Terrace takes 183, fills in first round

After taking in a record 183 students as of Sunday, Terrace Club will not take any members in the second round of club sign-ins. The other sign-in clubs declined to release first-round numbers.

Sophomores who had expressed interest in joining Terrace during the second round of sign-in via the Interclub Council website received an email on Thursday warning them that they would not be able to join.

“If you don't change your options, you will not be a member of Terrace,” the email sent from Terrace’s email account read. “Think hard about it and join the eating club closest to how you want to live your life.”

Donnelly said the club would probably create a waiting list for people who signed up late, but “it’s going to be a long shot for them.”

According to Donnelly, 168 sophomores and 15 juniors signed into Terrace. The unprecedented number of sophomores is approximately 13 percent of the entire sophomore class, as the club president noted in an email sent to current members and obtained by The Daily Princetonian.

“We’re really, really excited to have this many students joining,” Donnelly said. “It’s by far the largest class we’ve ever seen, and it’s probably the largest class Princeton has ever seen.”

More than double the size of its average first-round sign-in class – 79 last year, 88 in 2011 and 86 in 2010 – Donnelly says the facilities can manage the larger sign-in class, but the real test will be whether the club culture and personality can be sustained.

But some sophomores don’t think the larger numbers will necessarily affect the club’s personality.

“Terrace is a place where everyone is always welcome,” Isabelle Laurenzi ’15, a new member of Terrace, said. “I can go as I am. There are no standards that I have to worry about living up to.”

Colonial Club vice president Zinan Zhang ’14 declined to reveal the number of early sign-ins but said he expects to have final numbers comparable to those of last year, which totaled 74.

Zhang is a former comptroller for the ‘Prince.’

Cloister Inn’s president Paul Popescu ’14 and Quadrangle Club’s Branden Lewiston ’14 declined to comment until after the final round of sign-ins.

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“They probably don’t want to discourage people to sign-in the second round if the numbers are very high,” ICC president Alec Egan ’13 explained.

Though both Cloister and Quad have policies of not disclosing exact membership numbers, Cloister is reported to have had 32 students sign in during the first round last year.

Though Charter is not a bicker club, it is participating in the new multi-club Bicker process and will know its membership numbers by the end of the week, like the bicker clubs.

Charter will host events during Bicker week for students who are bickering a club but are also interested in joining Charter in order to help students accumulate points under the club's points-based sign-in system. Students will then be allowed to rank a bicker club along with Charter and will join the highest-ranked club that accepts them.

Bicker will take place between Sunday and Tuesday this week, and decisions will be announced by the weekend.