Charter Club Accepting Proposals to ‘Take Club in New Direction’

The Princeton Charter Club is requesting proposals to revamp the club, a move designed to attract more prospective members before sophomores join eating clubs in February. The club’s membership numbers have dwindled in recent years.“We invite you to submit a proposal to help us take Charter in a bold new direction,” the graduate board wrote in an email sent to the sophomore class on November 24.  The club—one of five ‘sign-in’ eating clubs at Princeton—is offering groups of 6 to 100 students from the sophomore, junior, or senior class the opportunity to lay out their vision for the club, including the method of admission and ideal club size, in addition to other priorities.   Among other incentives, the letter highlighted a discretionary budget of $100,000 for each group of at least 80 full members, a voting position on the board, and the club’s $1.5 million assets. “It is very open-ended,” said Justin Hamilton, president of Charter.  “Because we’ve left it so open-ended at this point, we are going to be very reactionary. It’s going to come down to the types of proposals coming and the group size.”Though the newly elected officers from within the club are expected to assume leadership in January, Hamilton said that if a large enough outside group shows interest in Charter, the board will consider adding additional officer positions. According to the email, new members may have the option to assume positions including President, Vice President, and Social Chair in 2020.The club currently has 38 active members, 19 of whom are seniors. Asked about the reasons for the shrinking club size, Hamilton suggested that low membership has historically been a challenge for all sign-in clubs at various points in time. The deadline for proposals is December 31, 2019, and selected groups will have the opportunity to present their proposals to the board.