Princeton men think they can drink more than you. MORE THAN YOU, I SAY. And they barely even spill any beverages on their ascots.
The proof was in last week’s Daily Princetonian, which published a report on the recent antics of the mysterious “21 Club,” a drinking institution that essentially functions as Princeton’s most substance-abused, and only, fraternity. The club is in the news after its members trashed one of the school’s eating clubs last weekend, and if you read about the initiation processes, you might be surprised this doesn’t happen more often.
According to a 2009 Princetonian report, the secret 21 Club taps 21 juniors and 21 seniors for an annual drinking contest. Members are taken from some of the elite “eating clubs”—I feel like a douche writing this—including five from the Cottage Club, Cap and Gown Club, Ivy Club, and Tiger Inn, as well as one independent, and each inductee is picked because they “go out multiple times a week and are completely blacked out,” according to one candid member.
The group’s big drinking contest requires you to drink 21 beers in 42 members; or, one beer every other minute. When it went down this year at the Tiger Inn, the place was so badly wrecked (with vomit), that most of the Tiger Inn’s leadership has since resigned its membership.
What exactly happens the morning of the contest? According to one member, you will drink 30 to 35 beers in an hour. You will puke “20 to 30 times.” And you discover a level of drunkenness you may not know existed.
The members assemble at one of the eating clubs on the morning of the contest, Matthew said, adding that each club provides one or two kegs.
“It’s a scary thing … We’re all sitting there with a big dumpster in the middle, and the older brothers are behind you feeding you beers, and you have to [drink one] every [other] minute, no stopping, and people are yelling at you,” Matthew explained.
Even before the contest begins, the juniors must each drink seven social beers in addition to the 21 they will later consume.
“Keeping it down is not the point,” Matthew said, adding that there was a certain sense of apprehension among the new members.
“There were only five people per club, and we finished a keg, like, a half-hour in,” Matthew said. “They had to go and get another one. That was my first realization: I was, like, ‘Oh, sh*t.'”
These are the men who will be our bosses one day.
[H/T: Business Insider]