Last month, most of Princeton’s eating clubs eliminated nudity from their initiations festivities. The club graduate boards, composed largely of aging men, probably dressed in long robes, decided that nudity is not in fact an unalienable right, but rather a nuisance and a liability.
When Ralph Nader ‘55 concluded his speech in McCosh 50 last month, the 500+ students and faculty who rose in a standing ovation, wildly cheering and applauding, surely knew his presidential candidacy was doomed.
Looking at the Cannon Club application, we expected to find a boring series of blanks waiting to be dutifully filled out; we were greeted instead by an ambiguous little document that contained, yes, several boring blanks, but also plenty of intriguing blanks that deserved some unpacking.
I thought I understood the general order of Lawnparties: live music, free food, and somewhat unsettling numbers of drunken upperclassmen at ten o’clock in the morning. When a roommate first let me in on the “preppy” dress code, however, the tradition struck me as strange. While I knew Princeton was widely considered to be among the “preppiest” of the Ivies, the label had always held a negative connotation to me, and I puzzled as to why students would actively work to perpetuate that stereotype.
Princeton students are special. We’ve been told this upon every rite of passage we have experienced. No one ever dares to contest that they have near-superhuman aptitudes for creativity and hard work, Renaissance men and women all, steeped in the finest principles of humanism. Yet there is one thing in which we cannot manage to surpass the national average.
Walking down Nassau Street last Wednesday towards my home on Bank Street, I passed a tall young man wearing short shorts and speaking French to a shorter young man wearing short shorts. The tall man had a red tote bag slung over his shoulder. I had no choice but to follow him.
Several Thursday eves ago my two older sisters and brother took me for a night on the town to celebrate Baby Sister’s 21st birthday. The night had all the makings of a Ha Sibling Extravaganza: tears, laughter, self-congratulatory remarks, Scotch, … Read More
