Whig-Clio changes break trip name after Pace Center voices concerns

The Pace Center for Civic Engagement has recently raised concerns about the use of the word “Breakout” by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society. After negotiations, Whig-Clio has decided to rename its fall break outreach programs “alternative break trips,” according to Whig-Clio president Adam Tcharni ’15.

The Pace Center regularly hosts fall and spring break trips that it dubs “Breakout trips.”

According to the Pace Center website, a Breakout trip is “a student-driven civic action break trip program that encourages engagement with domestic social issues through immersion in communities.” These religiously and politically-unaffiliated trips, planned and led solely by students, are offered throughout the year in various local and national destinations.

Ten students are typically selected for each trip through an application process. Strong applicants not initially accepted are placed on a wait-list, according to the Pace Center website.

The Pace Center receives direct funding from the University for these trips, and the cost for students ranges from $250 to $500.

Controversy arose when the Whig-Clio Society announced earlier this year that it would sponsor its own Breakout trip to Washington D.C., also during fall break, to examine education reform. Also designed and coordinated by students, this initiative utilized an application process to select for participants. However, preference was given to members of the Whig-Clio Society.

The Pace Center did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

During a previous interview with The Daily Princetonian, Tcharni said that “the trip is structured much like a traditional Pace Center Breakout trip, except it will be completely subsidized.”

Tcharni declined to comment regarding the use of the Breakout name but noted that “the issue was resolved immediately, as Whig-Clio agreed to call the trip an ‘alternative break trip.’ ”

Another campus organization that offers initiatives similar to the Pace Center’s Breakout trips is the Center for Jewish Life. The CJL announced earlier in October that it will be sponsoring two trips during spring break. Although the trips are largely student-led, one CJL staff member will accompany the group. Participants are selected through an application process.

The CJL said on its website that these trips “[follow] the model of the Pace Center’s Breakout trips.” However, it does not use the Breakout name to avoid confusion. In contrast to the Pace Center’s trips, the trips sponsored by the CJL are partly funded by outside organizations such as Hillel International and Repair the World.

“The name, used by the CJL and by Hillel International, our parent organization, for the past 10 years has always been ASB — alternative spring break,” Rabbi Julie Roth, executive director of the Center for Jewish Life, said. “[The Pace Center has] no concerns whatsoever about our alternative break programs.”

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Sara Evans, program coordinator at the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and the administrator responsible for the Whig-Clio trip, declined to comment.