Terrace Club

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Terrace Club is one of the ten current eating clubs at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Terrace was founded in 1904 as the twelfth club at Princeton. It is located at 62 Washington Road, making it the only one of Princeton's current eating clubs that is not on Prospect Avenue. Terrace is one of the five clubs to use a nonselective lottery "sign-in" system to determine membership, as opposed to the selective bicker system of the other five clubs. Terrace was the first of the clubs to accept Jewish, African American, and female members, and today is considered on campus to be the most "alternative," politically liberal eating club. Often, members are stereotyped according to this reputation, but the actual membership is very diverse in terms of background, sense of style, and academic interests. From 2002 to 2007, Terrace was a popular choice for sophomores, filling all of its membership slots either during first round sign-in or by the end of the second round.

Terrace's motto is "Food=Love," and has been since the mid eighties. The food is served cafeteria style, and is famous for being more "vegetarian friendly" than other clubs, although this is not always the case. Terrace is often referred to, predominantly by its members, as TFC. The value of the F in the acronym is debatable, but some interpretations are "Terrace Fucking Club," "Terrace Flaming Club," "Terrace Food Club," "Terrace Fight Club," "Terrace Football Club," and "Terrace Feminist Club". Also, Terrace is often referred to by club officers as "mother" or "the womb".

Terrace Flaming Club is the originator of the initials TFC. The name refers both to the fire (in the 80's, allegedly caused by members freebasing in the basement) and to its queer-friendly attitude. Much of the reputation Terrace enjoys today grew out the leadership and love of its Chef, the late Barton Rouse, the creative force behind Terrace's parties and excellent food from the eightes to late nineties, when he passed away. Barton was the man behind Food=Love motto, which is carried on today by Chef Chris Nord and sous-chef Gladys and the Terrace kitchen crew.

Weekend events at Terrace often include concerts of indie-scene bands from a variety of genres, including rock, hip-hop, salsa, jazz, and country. Unlike the other eating clubs, Terrace rarely hires DJs for dancing. Indeed, it is not uncommon for Terrace to have more nights of live music in a weekend than any of the other nine clubs put together. Notable artists and groups such as Elliot Smith and Maroon 5 played at Terrace before they were nationally well-known. Terrace also hosts the Queer Radicals' annual Drag Ball in October. Terrace, unlike most other eating clubs, never goes "members only" unless forced to do so. This is because Terrace prides itself on being the people's club.