77 percent of sophomores participate in Street Week for second year running

Spring Street Week has come to a close, after 1,041 students, who represent 77 percent of the sophomore class, sought admission to the University’s eleven eating clubs.

According to a statement released by the Interclub Council (ICC), 72 percent of students who bickered at selective eating clubs (Cannon, Cap & Gown, Cottage, Ivy Club, Tiger Inn, and Tower) were admitted to a bicker club — a five percent increase from last year, when bicker clubs accepted 67 percent.

The ICC, however, has not released the total number of students who bickered, as compared to having been admitted to sign-in clubs.

62 percent of bickerees elected to double bicker, in which two clubs independently consider the candidate for admission.

From data obtained by The Daily Princetonian, Ivy Club had the lowest acceptance rate among bicker clubs — about 33 percent — while Tower Club and Cannon Club were roughly tied for the highest, with about 52 percent of students admitted at each. All bicker clubs admitted less than two-thirds of students.

While most bicker clubs had similar acceptance rates compared to last spring, the sign-in club Charter admitted 125 sophomores and two juniors, according to Charter president Jaren McKinnie ’21. Should all admitted students join Charter, they would more than quintuple its membership, which currently stands at 28 students.

This dramatic surge comes after Charter announced last month that it will re-adopt bicker next year, in a bid to reverse its long-dwindling membership.

“We have had a number of people reach out to us since initial club placements asking to be put on Charter’s waitlist as we had hit our sophomore cap,” McKinnie said in an email to the ‘Prince.’ “We’ve also had more juniors reach out expressing interest in joining the club as well.”

This year, Cap & Gown’s acceptance rate rose by 14 percentage points.

According to Polly Hochman ’20, the president of Cap & Gown (Cap), 226 students bickered Cap this spring. Of these, 106 sophomores and four juniors were admitted, yielding a 49 percent acceptance rate. Last spring, just 35 percent were admitted, in a 4 percent drop from 2018.

Tower admitted 114 sophomores and 5 juniors as new members this spring, according to Tower president Fergus Binnie ’21. A total of 222 sophomores and eight juniors bickered the club, yielding a 52 percent acceptance rate. Last year, 55 percent were admitted.

According to multiple members of Cannon, 88 sophomores were accepted out of roughly 170 bickerees. This acceptance rate is similar to last year, when 105 of “over 200” were selected.

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According to a member of Cottage Club, 95 out of 195 bickerees were admitted to the club this year, with an acceptance rate of 49 percent. Last year, 88 students were admitted to Cottage, from a pool of 198.

Ivy admitted 74 sophomores to the club, an anonymous source told the ‘Prince.’ The source reported that of the new members, 39 were women and 35 were men. They also estimated that Ivy admitted approximately one-third of all bickerees, bringing the total of those who bickered to around 220. Last spring, 71 sophomores were accepted.

According to Tiger Inn (TI) president Joe Ratliffe ’20, the club admitted 79 new sophomores this spring, 38 women and 41 men. By Ratliffe’s estimate, approximately 200 students bickered in total. This acceptance rate is about the same as last year’s rate of 39 percent.

Due to strict media rules, all non-officer club members have been granted anonymity to protect their membership in their respective clubs.

The presidents of Cannon, Cottage, and Ivy did not respond to requests for comment.

According to data obtained by the ‘Prince,’ 521 students were admitted in total to sign-in clubs. This includes 26 groups that were created for the first ever Group Sign-In program, in which 175 students joined sign-in clubs as part of a group.

According to Hans Imhof ’21, president of Cloister Inn, 51 sophomores and five juniors signed in to Cloister during Street Week.

Colonial Club has gained 107 new members, according to a Colonial member.

Quadrangle Club president Krystal Delnoce ’21 told the ‘Prince’ that 117 sophomores and 4 juniors signed into Quad.

According to members of the sign-in club Terrace, 102 sophomores and 8 juniors were admitted.

Under a “matching system” adopted last year, the ICC requires all students who bicker to rank two sign-in clubs as back-up choices. This measure essentially guarantees that students who bicker or seek to sign in will be accepted into an eating club.

The ICC reported that, for the second consecutive year, 100 percent of sophomore participants were placed into a club.

With the exception of upperclass bickerees, all participants received club acceptances on Friday, Feb. 7 at 9 a.m., either to a selective or sign-in club.