<p>“Post 104 does not describe “campus culture.” The link in that post refers narrowly to Eating Clubs. Campus culture is not summarized by Eating Clubs.”</p>
<p>Look again. It describes non-eating club members as well. It describes them in terms of income, race/ethnicity, membership in fraternities. If you go further through the report, it describes members v. non-members attitudes toward the importance of alcohol on campus, and the contribution of the clubs to the prevailing campus culture. It’s not the whole campus culture, but an awfully big part of it.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p>“There are significant differences between club members and non-club members with respect to their use of alcohol and their perceptions of the role of alcohol at Princeton. While 88% of selective club members and 73% of sign-in club members in the Class of 2009 believed alcohol made a positive contribution to Princeton’s social culture, this view was shared by only 32% of classmates in the residential colleges, 35% with no dining contracts, and 27% in co-ops.”</p>
<p>That suggests me that the campus culture has a split personality regarding alcohol use on campus. </p>
<p>“While some fraternities and sororities have clearly become pipelines to some of the selective clubs, there are also pipeline relationships between some clubs and selected athletic teams and between some clubs and selected student organizations. In the Class of 2009, 54% of varsity athletes were in selective clubs, as compared to 33% of the class as a whole;”</p>
<p>This suggests to me where athletes tend to congregate.</p>
<p>“While recent University surveys and the COMBO surveys found overall student satisfaction at Princeton very high, there appears to be a higher degree of satisfaction among members of clubs. In the 2009 senior survey, 53% of selective club members and 48% of sign-in club members were “very satisfied” with their undergraduate experiences, as compared to 39% of non-club members.”</p>
<p>This suggests to me that selective club members are happiest with their Princeton experience. The previous data (on Graphs 5 and 6), “illustrates that students in the eating clubs, and especially the selective clubs, are significantly more affluent than Princeton students overall. The findings in both graph 5 and graph 6 are supported by the University’s senior surveys of recent years.” and that white and higher-income students are much more likely than other students to be in fraternities and sororities."</p>
<p>The Report also states:</p>
<p>“There are concerns that derive from the “culture of alcohol” that seems to characterize much of club life; a selection process that many describe as hurtful; and the development of pipeline relationships into a number of the selective clubs that help sustain Greek organizations that many feel are incompatible with the Princeton residential experience. The clubs also continue to be a polarizing force, for reasons that seem to derive in part from a social stratification that persists despite a number of efforts to ameliorate it, with students from lower-income families and minority groups participating less fully in the clubs than other students.”</p>
<p>Then more:</p>
<p>Exclusivity, Inclusiveness and Diversity</p>
<p>Many students and alumni commented on the strong sense of community they have felt in their clubs, describing a “familial ethos” and referring to them as homes away from home. Clearly this is one of the great strengths of the clubs, and some called upon the University to try to provide similar feelings of belonging for juniors and seniors in the residential colleges, the co-ops and the apartment-style units in Spelman.</p>
<p>“Offsetting this powerful sense of inclusiveness within individual clubs is a strong sense of exclusivity by many students outside the clubs. Some students feel excluded because of the bicker process; this feeling is especially keen among students who are not members of the teams, organizations or fraternities/sororities that fill many of the available spaces in the bicker clubs. As many pointed out, the clubs are the center of social life at Princeton for non-club members as well as club members, so students also feel excluded when passes are used to limit access to club parties, and especially when the distribution of passes is to members of the same teams, organizations and fraternities/sororities that dominate membership.”</p>
<p>You don’t think this describes “campus culture”? Were they relying on rumor, prejudice, and dated reputation? Were they hampered by “scant” or “zero” experience? Did they “reduce” and “stereotype”?</p>
<p>I have no dog in this hunt. I commend Princeton for putting together what looks like such a well-reasoned, well-researched, and well-articulated report. And then acting upon it.</p>