Cloister Inn is one of the undergraduate eating clubs at Princeton University in

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

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. Founded in 1912, Cloister occupies a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

building on Prospect Avenue, between Cap and Gown Club and Charter Club. Cloister closed temporarily in 1972, becoming open to all Princeton alumni, before reopening as an undergraduate club in 1977. The club is "sign-in", meaning that it selects its members from a lottery process rather than the bicker process used by several of the eating clubs. Cloister typically attracts an athletic crowd and its members often include a number of Olympians. The official motto of the club is “Where everybody knows your name”.

History

Cloister Inn was founded in 1912. The present building was constructed in 1924. It was designed by architects R.H. Scannell and Charles Lewis Bowman
NRHP
Cloister received mention in Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason's 2004 bestselling novel ''The Rule of Four''. Caldwell, a 1998 graduate of Princeton, was a member of Cloister.

Notable alumni

Business

* Robert Briskman '54, co-founder of

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

and Technical Executive of

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

* Tad Smith '87, chief executive of

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

Literature and the arts

Craig Mazin Craig Mazin (born April 8, 1971) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for creating the five-part HBO miniseries ''Chernobyl'', based on the nuclear disaster of the same name in 1986. His work earned him two Primetime Em ...

'92, screenwriter and director * Ian Caldwell '98, co-author of the bestselling novel '' The Rule of Four'', which was set at Princeton and includes several scenes that take place at Cloister * Nicholas Confessore '98, political correspondent for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Politics, government, and public affairs

Anne-Marie Slaughter Anne-Marie Slaughter (born September 27, 1958) is an American international lawyer, foreign policy analyst, political scientist and public commentator. From 2002 to 2009, she was the Dean of Princeton University's School of Public and Interna ...

'80, president and CEO of the New America Foundation and former Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department * Eliot Spitzer '81, former New York governor * Elena Kagan '81, United States Supreme Court justice * Nan Hayworth '81, former U.S. Representative for

New York's 19th congressional district New York's 19th congressional district is located in New York's Catskills and mid-Hudson Valley regions. It lies partially in the northernmost region of the New York metropolitan area and mostly south of Albany. This district is currently re ...

* Chris Lu '88,

United States Deputy Secretary of Labor The United States deputy secretary of labor is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Labor. In the United States federal government, the deputy secretary oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department of Lab ...

* Nuala O'Connor '89, current president of the Center for Democracy and Technology and inaugural Chief Privacy Officer for the

US Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

* Charles W. Yost '28, U.S. Ambassador to Laos, Syria, Morocco, and U.S. Ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

Sport

* Frank Anger '61, member of the United States team in

Fencing at the Summer Olympics Fencing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. There are three forms of Olympic fencing: *Foil — a light thrusting weapon; the valid target is re ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in 1962 * Derek Bouchard-Hall '92, former professional cyclist, competitor in the men's team pursuit in

Cycling at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cycling at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 3 different bicycle racing disciplines were contested: Road cycling, track cycling, and mountain biking. Road cycling Track cycling Men Women Mountain biking Medal table Records broken OR = Olymp ...

, and current CEO and president of USA Cycling * Danika Holbrook '95, competitor for the United States in Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's quadruple sculls * Morgan Crooks '98, competitor for Canada in

Rowing at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowing at the 2000 Summer Olympics took place at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Penrith, New South Wales, Australia. It featured 547 competitors (363 men and 184 women) from 51 nations taking part in 14 events. The medals were sp ...

* Chris Ahrens '98, gold medalist in the Men's Eights event in

Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Centre and featured 550 competitors taking part in 14 events. The medals were split among 22 countries, Romania topping the medal table, their women win ...

* Thomas Herschmiller '01, silver medalist for Canada in

* Paul Teti '01, three-time member of the United States Olympic

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

team *

Lia Pernell Lia Pernell (born August 16, 1981) is an American rower. She was born in Berkeley, California. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she placed fifth in quadruple sculls, together with Lindsay Meyer, Jennifer Kaido and Mar ...

'03, competitor for the United States in

Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowing competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing were held from August 9 to August 17, at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Qualification Medal table Medal summary Men's events Women's events See also *Rowing at ...

* Juan Pablo Valdivieso '04, two-time member of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

's Olympic swimming team *

Samuel Loch Samuel Loch (born 26 June 1983) is an Australian former representative rower. A dual Olympian and two time bronze medal winner at World Championships, he has set and holds world records in indoor rowing with times set on the Concept 2 rowing m ...

'06, Australian

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics * Steven Coppola '06, bronze medalist for the United States in Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's eight * Caroline Lind '06, two-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States in Women's rowing * Genevra Stone '07, six-time winner of the women's championship singles event at

Head of the Charles Regatta The Head of the Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR, is a rowing (sport), rowing head race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October (i.e., on the Friday that falls between the 16th and the 22nd of the month, and on the Saturday an ...

and competitor for the United States in Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Women's single sculls * Glenn Ochal '08, bronze medalist for the United States in Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Men's coxless four * Douglas Lennox-Silva '09, swimmer who represented

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

in the 2008 Summer Olympics * Grant Wentworth '09, record holder in

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. The beginning of the modern age of open water swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when Lord Byron swam s ...

for the solo swim from

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

to Nantucket * Sara Hendershot '10, representative of the United States in

Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics The rowing competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held from 28 July to 4 August 2012, at Dorney Lake which, for the purposes of the Games venue, was officially termed Eton Dorney. Fourteen medal events were contested by 550 a ...

* Robin Prendes '11, representative of the United States in

in the men's coxless four * Bryan Tay '12,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

's sole representative in men's

Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic ...

* Susie Scanlan '14, American epee fencer who won a bronze medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics

References

External links

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{{Princeton Eating clubs at Princeton University Historic district contributing properties in Mercer County, New Jersey