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Tap Clubs: Friend or Foe?
By Julia Patt ’09
STAFF WRITER

Speaking about tap clubs is discouraged. Even at this last Voice meeting, when the notion of an op-ed piece about campus traditions was broached, more than one staff writer spoke in opposition of critiquing one of Sweet Briar’s oldest customs. As a newcomer to this campus, I admit to being surprised: why the sensitivity, SBC? Shouldn’t tap clubs, like Prothro or freshmen housing or step-singing, be considered, thought about, questioned? Isn’t our 20k tuition education meant to teach us how to do just that?

It is not my intention, then, to provoke the general wrath of the upperclassmen. If such happens regardless, you are all welcome to pelt me with eggs. I prefer soft-boiled to hard, as a matter of taste.

Tap clubs get their own link on Co-Curricular Life’s Student website. Of Sweet Briar’s purported 50 campus organizations, 9 are tap clubs. One could assume, then, that approximately 1/5 of the campus’s population would be involved in tap clubs. However, a recent poll showed that of the students who are interested in being in tap clubs, very few actually are. Indeed, most tap clubs have active memberships of 20 students or less, with several overlaps. So, on the negative side, it could be argued that tap clubs promote a kind of social elitism. A rebuttal I have heard repeated throughout the year is: everyone on campus can have fun through the tap clubs and their various rivalries. Can they?

The benefit of some of these organizations is readily apparent. Paint ‘N’ Patches, Sweet Tones, Aints and Asses, Taps ‘N’ Toes, and Ear Phones all contribute to the arts, whether serious or comic. From stand-up to formal theater, to dance, to song (both of the on and off-key variety), these talented and enthusiastic ladies seek to spread the joy of performance across campus.

As the names get stranger (Bums, QV’s, Mungs), the meanings and “fun” become less apparent. While it might be an essential part of campus life, chanting in the hallways at 10:00 PM on a Monday during these final crunch weeks hardly seems appealing or considerate. And given the secrecy of “The Game” (as it is called), we first-years have little, if any, clue of what the hell is going on.

Not to mention that we’re getting mixed signals. “Hazing” has been dropped several times during the year by older, less enthusiastic members of the senior class, both those involved and uninvolved in tap clubs. Though multiple sources assured me that this is not the case, curiously, none wished to be quoted in this piece. We are not supposed to talk about The Game, although everyone does-frequently, albeit quietly. Additionally, the freshmen class is treated to bits of tap club lore – never say that you want to be in a tap club or you won’t be tapped, such and such a sophomore one year had to roll down a hill yelling obscenities, etc. Of course, given that no one can actually talk about The Game, it is impossible to know fact from fiction.

Somewhat problematic, isn’t it? I’m not requesting confessions, just maybe some clarifications. They’re clubs, not cults, after all. Right?

My best piece of unofficial, off-the-record advice was to take the tap clubs in the spirit they were originally meant: light-hearted fun and campus unity. By celebrating our differences (sweet Chung Mungs, amiable QV’s, boisterous Bums, witty Tau Phi’s), we can bring each other closer together and have a good time doing it.

Let’s just try it without the chanting the night before I have an exam, eh? Maybe?

Okay, just give the idea some thought.