Standing at the corner at 2 a.m., a glance down the long roadway is an exercise in stoic symmetry. Ten impressive clubhouses, guarding Prospect Avenue on either side like guards on the bridge over the castle's moat. There's something else, though, something looming thunderously in the background. Getting closer and closer, the thunder inside these castle-guards becomes more apparent. Thumping hip-hop beats; free-flowing beer from the tap; inebriated and unabashed social banter and excitement. It's college nightlife at its best. It's "The Street" in full swing. It's Princeton on a Saturday night.

With so much attention paid recently to the status of final clubs at Harvard and students' dissatisfaction with campus social life, the weekend jaunt down I-95 and the Garden State Parkway to central New Jersey provides a startling contrast in elitist--or at least-elitist inspired--fraternizing. The center of most students' social life is "The Street," which, funny enough, is actually an avenue--Prospect Avenue, adjacent to the central campus quadrangle. On The Street are the 11 eating clubs, which serve as dining halls, study centers, small classrooms and, of course, social outlets.

"We are where the majority of upperclass students eat all their meals," says Ryan Gardner, a president of Campus Club, one of the privately owned and operated clubs. "Most of the students' friends are in the same eating club as they are."

The eating clubs are most akin to a combination of final clubs and the housing system at Harvard. Though Princeton has a college system similar to Harvard's house system and Yale's college structure, students are placed in colleges before their first year, not their sophomore campaigns. Also, students most often enter their chosen club with a group of friends. Though the club system may seem highly elitist and pretentious, in actuality, with nearly every upperclassmen enjoying the benefits of a club, it manages to combine the benefits of a final club with a sense of community of Harvard's Houses.

Students choose their eating club at the beginning of the spring semester of their sophomore year. Each club has its own character, and students choose which club they want to belong to by visiting them during their freshman and sophomore years. Then, in March of the sophomore year, linking up with their friends, they enter their chosen club. Two genres of clubs subsist. In the six "sign-in" clubs, students place their name on a list and gain entrance. If too many students show interest, the sign-in clubs hold lotteries. Whether or not prospective members get their first choice or not--in lottery situations they can place their name on the lists of several clubs--students are guaranteed to get into a club with up to 12 of their friends. At the other five "bicker" clubs, selective policies are implemented; students "punch" and look to be chosen for admittance. All 11 clubs are co-educational.

The clubs play a tremendous role in the lives of Princeton students. Their main function is to provide meals to upperclassmen. A professional chef manages each club's dining facilities, and about three-quarters of the junior and senior classes gather daily for meals at the clubs. Those who choose not to be part of the eating club system can opt for placement in an on-campus suite with a kitchen, or "co-ops," or they can eat in one of the dining halls. Very few upperclassmen choose to continue their previous dining plan.

But students who opt against an eating club are missing more than food. The clubs provide students with libraries and computer facilities and host small classes for the university. Through them, students participate in intramurals and community service as well as interact with faculty. And, of course, as Gardner remarks, "We are where many students choose to spend their weekend nights." Tower Club president John W. Staples echoes the sentiment, claiming that "with the exception of room parties and a few minor fraternity/sorority parties, the eating clubs are the social world. Most students choose to come out to the clubs on Prospect Avenue rather than staying in dorm rooms." The clubs have parties almost every weekend night "They are a melting pot of students on any weekend night, where parties occur up and down the street," Gardner says.

As if to dispel any elitist myths, the eating clubs are open to most students nearly all of the time. Exceptions may arise when clubs--usually bicker clubs--have "pass-only" events in which students must present passes obtained from members of the clubs. Bicker clubs usually require passes for special entertainment such as bands and theme parties. Students say that members usually hang out in their own club since they each have a special character. From Terrace, the artsy, diverse club, to the more pretentious, selective clubs to the more frat-like beer oriented clubs like Tiger Inn (TI), there are options for almost everyone. In addition, each club has a unique atmosphere and history. A popular TI anecdote tells how members destroyed an expensive tree at Cottage, another club, and were going to be held financially responsible. To pay for the tree, they had the choice of going off tap or eating hot dogs for every meal. The TI-ers chose the hot dogs.

The eating clubs furnish a resource for students every weekend, but Princeton students aren't always appreciative of that outlet. "At Harvard, you have Boston, and you don't have to stay on campus. But here, if you don't go to eating clubs, there is nowhere else," complains Mario A. Moya '01. "Drinking beer is the only option."

On weekends, the clubs specialize in drinking; the university's drinking policy is considered to be very lenient. Practice at the clubs is to stamp the hand of any student who shows Princeton ID. The stamp officially means the student is 21 and able to drink, whether they are really of age or not. But students think the university's drinking policy may become more restricted. This year, the university enforced a no-alcohol policy for the bicker clubs' initiation of their new members due to problems experienced during the bicker of some of the clubs last year. As Gardner explains, "If a freshman gets really drunk at my club and gets hit by a car in the street after that, I can get sued." With regards to relations with the university, Gardner says, "The University isn't a big fan of parties, but the clubs are privately owned and can't be under control." He goes on to explain that the university tends to "look the other way" about parties because they know having cheap beer in a supervised location is better than students driving to bars or sitting in their rooms with hard liquor.

Not all students choose to partake in eating club life. For some, the higher price of an eating cub over a dining hall meal plan is reason enough to choose the latter. The extra few thousand dollars members pay to a club goes to maintenance of the house, a social fee and administrative costs. But besides the cost, not all students agree that the atmosphere of the clubs is community building. John Kent-Uritam, a member of Brown Co-op, feels that although bicker clubs have some sense of community, the sign-in clubs tend to contain students that aren't necessarily united by any common bond, especially if not all students got their first choice of club. For Kent-Uritam himself, the price was an important deterrent, considering that an eating club can cost more than five thousand dollars and the Co-op costs only about a thousand. There are two official Co-ops, Brown and 2D, a vegetarian Co-op. Brown says that he likes the diversity of membership in the organization, and though the group isn't social in the party sense, socializing does result when members share meals.

For eating club officers, the clubs play an even bigger role. The Tower Club Web site explains, "Club members gain another important benefit in learning leadership through the experience of managing these modestly sized independent organizations." Or, put more colloquially, Staples declares, "Dude, my eating club is my life. I wake up in the morning, come here for breakfast, go about my day, and go home to sleep. Being the president of an eating club is a full-time activity." Many club officers live at the clubs, making them not only places to eat and socialize but homes as well.

Despite lingering elitist reputations, Princeton's eating clubs prove more egalitarian than other controversial institutions. Virtually democratic open doors and flowing taps inspire Princeton students to head to The Street most weekend nights.