The
21 Club is an informal student organization at
Princeton University. Memorials in the
Princeton Alumni Weekly dating back to the class of 1953 mention
membership in the 21 club
[559], and it is likely that the club's
formation was decades before this.
Although the 21 Club claims
to predate many of the
eating clubs at Princeton, it has become
closely intertwined and associated with them. Membership in the
club is ostensibly an open pass to any of the eating clubs
[560].
It ostensibly draws its name
from the number of members (21) that are inducted into the club
every year, with Senior members of the club select, or tap, a
Junior to
receive their bid to the club each winter. However, current
membership consists of 5 members each from four of the bicker
clubs, (
University Cottage Club,
Ivy Club,
Tiger Inn, and
Cap and
Gown Club) and a final member being an independent (not
associated with any particular eating club).
One of the club's
more notable alumni is James Baker, who described the club as
having a mission similar to that of the Right Wing Club, "so named
because we spent much of our time using our right arms to hoist
spirituous beverages"
[561].