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Web Exclusives:
Under the Ivy December
4 , 2002: When I worked at PAW, I used to say that I could pick up a back volume at random, thumb through it, and invariably find a name, news item, or other tidbit of interest (at least to me, my coworkers might point out). I once stumbled across the birth announcement of one of our older, longtime class secretaries — in his father's class notes section, circa 1915 or so. I discovered pieces by now-famous writers and articles about notorious events as well as quotes by alumni celebrities they surely had forgotten they ever gave. I was delighted when I first tripped across John McPhee '53's On the Campus columns, written in his senior year. Already marked by the journalistic, straightforward yet poetic voice that would earn him the Pulitzer Prize, his columns are generally serious, but with a dry humor that make them a pleasure to read even 50 years later. One of my favorites, from May 1, 1953, describes the Joe Sugar Riots. During the spring of 1953, a warm evening drew a band of juniors — friends and supporters of Joseph Sugar '54, a candidate for class president for the upcoming year — out of their rooms in Henry and 1901 Halls. "Employing pyrotechnical novelties and bugle calls to accompany contorted cries of Sugar's name, The Friends of Joe Sugar collected a mob of about 800," reported McPhee. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the cries of "We want Sugar" soon morphed into "We want whiskey" as the crowd made its way to the Nassau Tavern (which had recently begun cracking down on its sales of liquor to minors) and thence to Nassau Street, where the group blocked traffic for 15 minutes. "It was at this point that some persuasive oratory by Dean F. R. B. Godolphin '24 was delivered from the bumper of an automobile," McPhee continued. "Said the Dean: 'Knock it off!' — and with that the Sugar-riot dissolved." But with the single-minded devotion to extended pranks peculiar to Princeton undergraduates, the joke continued, with sugar lumps emblazoned "Joe" given away, his name whitewashed across one wall of a building, and Sugar endorsements by "a visiting singer, a Dixieland band and two proctors." The man in question protested his innocence, according to McPhee: "The Friends of Joe Sugar know more about this than I do," he said. "They like the sound of my name. They think it's euphonious." It's unclear if all the commotion helped Sugar's campaign; indeed, a few faculty members doubted his very existence. And, alas, McPhee was not around the following year to report on the success, or failure, of Sugar's run for office. However, in the May 17, 2000, issue of PAW, '54 class secretary Dick Stevens had this to say: "Wonder of wonders — when the group attended a cocktail party hosted by Charlie Biddle '51, guess who signed in early? None other than the class icon Joe Sugar, who caused campus riots almost 50 years ago and who has been a rallying point for '54 through the years. If Sugar gets there first, it's an event. Amen!" Still euphonious after all these years.
Jane Martin ’89 is PAW's former editor-in-chief. You can reach her at paw@princeton.edu
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