Education: The 100 Percenters

When 605 Princeton sophomores signed the petition in 1949. they seemed to be striking a blow for democracy. For years Princeton’s 17 private eating clubs, which President Woodrow Wilson tried to abolish, had been taking in the most desirable sophomores and leaving a small, unwanted minority out in the cold. Unless, said the ’49 petition, the clubs made sure that every single man got at least one invitation during the annual bicker (bidding), no sophomores would join a club at all. The petition carried the day: the permanent 100% bicker had come to Princeton at last.

Somehow it did not work out. During each bicker there always seemed to be about 15 boys whom the clubs could not decide about. Eventually, the outcasts all made a club—but only after the club presidents had met secretly to determine which of their organizations must make the awful sacrifice. The 100% bicker remained, but the unwanted minority, now known as 100 Percenters, were as clearly marked as ever.

Last week the university announced that it would try to eliminate the problem by setting up a “facility” of its own to accommodate the 100 Percenters. But would not membership in the facility still carry a stigma? In an earnest effort to avoid that, Sophomore Vice President Robert Hillier announced that he would accept no bids from any club, but would join the university’s facility and bring “60 or 70 of the good men in the class” along with him. “Everyone’s afraid that the facility will become a dumping ground,” said he. “Someone has to make the move to destroy the stigma that will result if only 100 Percenters join the facility.”