NATION : Princeton’s Male Eating Clubs Must Open to Women--Or Else!
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the men-only membership policies at two Princeton University eating clubs are a violation of state anti-discrimination laws.
The ruling against the clubs came in a lawsuit brought by Sally Frank. Frank was a 19-year-old undergraduate at Princeton when she filed suit in 1979 against the men-only membership policies of the Ivy, Cottage and Tiger eating clubs.
After Frank graduated and went on to become a law professor, the Cottage Club agreed to admit women. Of the school’s 13 eating clubs, which are Princeton’s rough equivalent to fraternities, only the Tiger Inn and Ivy Club continue to shun women.
Pressured by the lawsuit, members of both clubs voted earlier this year to admit women but the vote must pass two years in a row before the new policy goes into effect.
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