165:. The eating clubs are at the center of the campus life and many upperclassmen go there for dinner every night. They are about more than just eating however; the social significance of the clubs is great, and leadership roles in particular are a sign of status and achievement. Even today they are a tool for social stratification and face critiques of exclusiveness, particularly on the subjects of race and class. Their elitist nature has long been the cause of controversy. Cottage Club and Ivy Club in particular are known for having a lot of "legacy people," meaning those at the end of multi-generational lists of Princeton alumni.
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maintenance for the eating clubs. The department began an investigation but dismissed the case in April 1980. Despite this loss, the N.J. Division on Civil rights agreed to re-hear the case. Throughout this legal fight, Frank continued to complete her final undergraduate years at
Princeton. During the rest of her time there she endured verbal and physical harassment, including frequently receiving obscene phone calls from Cottage members. Even after her graduation the eating clubs continued to vilify her.
110:. The eating clubs argued that they were completely private and separate from the university, giving them the right to sex discrimination. After many rounds in the courts, this argument eventually failed. The winning argument stated that the clubs were in fact not separate, and instead functioned as an arm of the university itself. This meant that the clubs were in the end covered by New Jersey's anti-discrimination law and forced to admit women.
196:. Frank was allowed to attend her appointments but was ignored by the clubs and did not receive bids, or invitations to join. Two other women who also tried were denied. The president of Cottage Club said at the time that women were not "legitimate candidates." The president of Tiger Inn said, "They were not offered a bid because they were registered illegally for Bicker."
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and the executive director explained that she could sue based on the fact that the clubs are public accommodations. When she returned her junior year, she registered to bicker again knowing it would make her case stronger if she had been rejected after multiple attempts. She was refused appointments.
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in 1986 and appealing the decision. The judge who heard the countersuit, Robert Miller, stated that the clubs could sever formal ties with the university and remain all-male. Just before the decisions, though, the university expressed public support for Frank and agreed to pay her attorney fees in a
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On campus students continued the fight, including founding the organization "Coalition for
Coeducated Eating Clubs." They brought in professors, administrators and alumni, which helped campus attitudes shift. They held multiple demonstrations and got on-campus sponsorships, such as from the Women's
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and became her own co-counsel in the ongoing suit. Frank described working alongside Taub and learning from her, "Nadine was a role model and an incredible feminist She was a strategic thinker and a sharp litigator, and working with someone of that depth and commitment was a remarkable experience.
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While Frank continued the fight on a legal level, female students at
Princeton in the 1980s continued to push for inclusion on campus. In 1985, a petition collected over 300 signatures calling on the all-male clubs to accept women, supported by the on-campus Women's Center, established in 1971. It
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After being denied twice, she went to the Rutger's Women's Rights
Litigation Clinic for support. In February 1979, Taub took on the case, and filed a lawsuit against all three male-only clubs and the university, each of which insisted that the clubs were exempt from anti-discrimination law because
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Eating clubs initially grew out of the university's ban on fraternities in the late 1800s and the lack of dining options on campus. The university does not regulate them to this day, allowing them to be fully managed and operated by their student members. The clubs say they are not affiliated with
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The lawsuit was re-heard in 1980, then dismissed a second time. It was appealed and won, then in 1982 the decision was reversed. In 1985 the N.J. Division on Civil Rights finally ruled that the clubs were not private because they were bound by "historical, not just superficial ties." Ivy Club and
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In the time since the lawsuit ended, the gender balance has significantly shifted at
Princeton and in its eating clubs. Still, Sally Frank's legal fight is not fully forgotten on campus. In 2014, two student officers in Tiger Inn were removed from their positions for emails they sent, one with a
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Finally, the N.J Supreme Court ruled that the eating clubs would have to open for women on July 3, 1990. Women joined Ivy Club for the first time the following fall. Tiger Inn still did not accept women, and continued to appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court who then denied their
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under the name S.B. Frank and with gender marked as male. Frank received appointments at all five of the most selective eating clubs, three of which were male-only. While many clubs allow students to simply sign-up and choose based on a lottery system, the more exclusive clubs require them to go
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In the first of many loses, the N.J. Division on Civil Rights ruled that the clubs were private in June 1979. Later the same year, Frank filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services stating that the university endorsed a discriminatory policy by providing security and
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In 1988, Cottage Club admitted 27 women in the first year of co-ed bickering. Tiger Inn and Ivy Club remained male-only and continued to push back, appealing the decision again. Later that year the ruling of 1987 was reversed and Frank and Taub had to start over.
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When
Princeton became co-ed in 1969, some of the eleven eating clubs introduced coed policies immediately. A year later, five more clubs accepted female members. By 1971, only three all-male clubs remained:
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the school, yet around three-quarters of the school's upperclassmen eat all their meals there and 68% of them are members. Membership lasts for life and can be an important way to access alumni networks.
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The clubs' presidents said "their primary responsibility is toward sophomore males" and Frank's presence "might disrupt the process, noting that last year club members complained after Frank bickered."
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Throughout the legal process, the clubs pushed back hard. In the 1980s the clubs sold shirts featuring a picture of Frank's face, given a mustache and the slogan "Better Dead Than Coed." Ultimately,
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386:"The Ivy Club v. W. Cary Edwards; Pamela S. Poff, Appellants,sally Frank, Intervenor-defendant.sally Frank, Counter-claimant, v. the Ivy Club, Counter-defendant, 943 F.2d 270 (3d Cir. 1991)"
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they were private, non-university institutions. Taub's argued the opposite, that their integrated nature with the university meant they were covered under the same laws.
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The eating club lawyers seemed to enjoy displaying their blatant sexism. Frank recalled the Tiger Inn lawyer wearing
Playboy bunny suspenders to a settlement conference.
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sexually explicit photograph and the other about Sally Frank herself. This situation was then used to push for an increase in female leadership.
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In 2015, Tiger Inn elected its first female president. In 2018, women held the club president positions in nine of the eleven eating clubs.
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in 1978 for denying her on the basis of her gender. Over ten years later, in 1990 the eating clubs were defined as "
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petition in 1991. In
February 1991, 27 women were accepted into the Tiger Inn, the last club to allow them to join.
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In the fall of 1977, Sally Frank, a sophomore at
Princeton, applied for membership to the all-male
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settlement. Eventually another ruling in 1987 said that the law required the clubs to go co-ed.
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the decision, even after the final court order in 1990. The appeal went all the way to the
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98:" and court ordered to become co-ed due to the efforts of Sally Frank, her attorney
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While angry, Frank did not decide to sue until she took a summer job at the
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659:"Defending The All-Male Clubs Against Abstract Philosophers Letters"
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724:"At Princeton, Women Make Strides at Clubs That Once Barred Them"
632:"Coed Petition Garners 300 Names, Students Urge Women to Bicker"
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354:"Nadine Taub, Early Leader in Women's Rights Law, Dies at 77"
571:"Clubs Request Sign-In Sheets As Bicker Enters Third Day"
413:"Interclub Council: Thirty years later, a call to action"
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was the cause of much debate and tension on the campus.
314:"Court Tells Princeton Clubs They Must Admit Women"
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American legal academic and women's rights activist
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544:"Selective Clubs Close Bicker, Extend 620 Bids"
133:but was unsuccessful in changing the decision.
463:Doskoch, Evelyn; Gjaja, Alex (July 13, 2020).
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776:United States gender discrimination case law
688:"Princeton Eating Club Votes to Admit Women"
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71:Suing Princeton eating clubs to become co-ed
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117:decided to become coed in 1986, but both
786:New York University School of Law alumni
523:The Eating Clubs of Princeton University
494:"Undercover at Princeton's Eating Clubs"
286:"Sally Frank Profile | Drake University"
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186:a lengthy interview process similar to
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542:Bernstein, Steven (February 6, 1978).
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603:"Frank Files Complaint of Sex Bias"
232:She taught me how to be a lawyer."
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312:Stanley, Alessandra (1990-07-04).
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229:New York University School of Law
39:New York University School of Law
465:"How the Eating Clubs Went Coed"
104:Women's Rights Litigation Clinic
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352:Green, Penelope (2020-07-24).
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240:Tiger Inn fought back, filing
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173:Sally Frank denied membership
32:MA, Clinical Legal Education
611:. Vol. 103, no. 14
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781:Princeton University alumni
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223:Frank went on to earn her
200:Sex discrimination lawsuit
194:fraternities or sororities
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182:through a process called
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519:"What's an Eating Club?"
90:sued the three all-male
664:The Daily Princetonian
637:The Daily Princetonian
576:The Daily Princetonian
549:The Daily Princetonian
470:The Daily Princetonian
601:(February 21, 1979).
96:public accommodation
44:Princeton University
728:The New York Times
692:The New York Times
668:. December 5, 1985
608:Daily Princetonian
580:. February 5, 1979
358:The New York Times
318:The New York Times
206:ACLU of New Jersey
108:Rutgers Law School
34:Antioch University
686:Ap (1990-02-20).
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599:Elena Kagan
100:Nadine Taub
88:Sally Frank
23:Sally Frank
755:Categories
741:2021-09-25
705:2021-09-25
672:2021-09-26
644:2021-09-26
584:2021-09-26
556:2021-09-26
528:2021-09-26
504:2021-09-26
476:2021-09-25
422:2021-09-26
395:2021-09-25
390:Justia Law
371:2021-09-24
331:2021-09-25
295:2021-09-29
273:References
184:bickering,
50:Occupation
736:0362-4331
700:0362-4331
366:0362-4331
326:0362-4331
261:Aftermath
163:Tiger Inn
123:Tiger Inn
29:Education
578:Archives
551:Archives
498:Observer
253:Center.
159:Ivy Club
119:Ivy Club
102:and the
76:Movement
58:Employer
666:Archive
639:Archive
189:rushing
137:History
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617:2021
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121:and
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