Colonial Club

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Colonial Club

Colonial Club is one of the ten current eating clubs of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1891, it is the fifth oldest of the clubs. It is located on 40 Prospect Avenue.

The club occupies a large mansion on the north side of Prospect Avenue in Princeton, NJ. The building is easily recognizable by its four large white columns fashioned in Colonial style, and it was meant to compete in size with Cottage Club. After originally occupying several locations farther away from campus, the current house was built during a time of strong rivalry between eating clubs, across the street from rival clubs Ivy and Cottage. In very recent years, Colonial's closest rival has been the Princeton Tower Club and Charter Club.

Colonial is one of the five current non-selective, or "sign-in," clubs. The other five clubs are selective, or "bicker," clubs. Colonial is known among current students for its openness in both membership and in admission to festivities and events. The club usually refuses to go "on pass" (a method of restricting admission to an event to only members and holders of colored cards obtained from club members) and instead opens its doors to all Princeton undergraduate students. It is unique among the clubs, however, in that it has enforced a blanket ban on all graduate students since Spring 2006. Formerly a bicker club (as all eating clubs were), the club went non-selective in 1969 under pressure from Nassau Hall which at the same time opened the door for women to join the club.

Interest in the club reached a low point in 1999 when only 26 members of the class of 2001 signed in to Colonial. Aggressive event planning by the classes of 2000 and 2001, along with generous alumni support and an enthusiastic and dedicated class of 2002, brought the club back from the brink. This was at least the third time the club had been rescued from near-oblivion, most recently in 1982 and 1988. From 2003 to 2007, Colonial filled all available memberships ^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] within the first round of sign-ins, solidifying the club's current position as the largest club and one of the most popular on "the Street."

Pete Conrad '53, the third man to walk on the moon, was a Colonial Member. Conrad carried five Princeton flags to the moon; he later gave one to the club. Unfortunately, this memento was destroyed in a fire while it was being framed for display.

Other famous Colonial alumni include former Rhode Island senator Claiborne Pell '40, famous for creation of Pell grants in 1973; Norman Thomas 1905, the chief Socialist in the United States and perennial Socialist candidate in every presidential election from 1928 to 1948; noted Princeton illustrator William B. Pell 1898 ^[6]; Eric E. Schmidt '76, CEO of Google; and Wentworth Miller '95 ^[7], star of the popular TV series Prison Break.