Caroline McCarthy ’06 will become the graduate board chair of Cloister Inn during Reunions, becoming the third woman ever to chair an eating club’s graduate board.
She will be the University’s only female eating club graduate board chair.
She previously served as a member of the club's graduate board.
The first female graduate board chair was Kimberly Noble ’80, at Elm Club, which no longer exists as its own club, and the second wasAnne Lester Trevisan ’86 of Campus Club, whichhas not been an eating club since 2005.
Noble and Trevisan did not respond to requests for comment.
McCarthy said she is aware of the low number of female chairs historically, but does not feel uncomfortable by being outnumbered in terms of gender. As the vice president of communications and content at true[X], an advertising and technology company, she said she is used to working in a dominantly male environment.
“I’m honestly not that intimidated given that I work in technology,” she said, adding that the documented issues with diversity in the technology industry are still important.“I’ve been in situations fairly often where I’m the only woman in the room.”
McCarthy said she thought the age disparity between herself and the other graduate board chairs was more consequential.
“I think that what I find most daunting is that some of the grad board chairs were undergrads before the school even went co-ed,” she said. “I’m trying to balance the fresh ideas I have with the fact that I want to show real, legitimate respect for the legacies of the other grad board chair members."
Sandy Harrison ’74, the graduate board chair of Terrace Club,said he believes the low number of female chairs is due to the previously unbalanced gender demographics in the University's eating clubs. He added he was impressed by McCarthy.
McCarthy's appointment is a sign that the eating clubs are making social progress, Harrison said.
“I would say that there will be more [female graduate board chairs]. I hope there’s more,” Harrison said. “I would be thrilled if my successor were a woman.”
Current students are also excited and pleased to see McCarthy as the new grad board chair, and to witness progress in the University’s distribution of power between genders.
Cloister president Ed Walker '16 did not respond to requests for comment.
Andrew Frazier '15, former president of Cloister, said McCarthy's achievements while serving on the graduate board have been impressive.
“She has been a huge leader on the grad board since she took over,” Frazier said. “She was clearly the most qualified candidate in the area and has been a pivotal figure in the formation of Cloister's fundraising plans and alumni relations since joining the grad board.”
Frazier said women’s late admittance into eating clubs largely accounts for the low number of female grad board chairs.
“Obviously the fact there have only been three is not all due to sample bias, but I think that we will see more female representation in the eating clubs as time goes on,” Frazier said. “The eating clubs until the seventies, and some until the nineties, were all men, so the fact that the grad boards and grad board chairs were all men comes as no surprise.”
Olivia Sayvetz ’15, a member of Cloister, said McCarthy's appointment made her optimistic about women's leadership at the University. While women do hold many of the leadership positions at the University, they rarely hold the most visible, publicized positions, Sayvetz said, adding she attributes this trend to a "boys' club" culture.
“It is my hope that Caroline McCarthy's recent appointment as chairwoman will set a precedent for the rest of the eating clubs and for other campus organizations,” Sayvetz said.
Erik Maritz '17 said having more women on eating club's graduate boards would curb problems with misogyny on the Street.
"I think that probably one of the biggest reasons why the eating clubs are so misogynistic is because they don't have more women on their grad boards," Maritz said."I think that having more women oversee finances and make administrative decisions will definitely have a positive influence on the clubs, especially in the wake of a lot of scandals like sexual assault."
Edwin Rosales '17 noted that the number of women undergraduate students who have become club officers has not been reflected at the graduate board level.
"So many clubs have elected female leadership, and I think this appointment is really saying something about how the Princeton culture needs to change in order to make women feel more included in their respective eating club communities," Rosales said.
Associate news editor Jasmine Wang contributed reporting.
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