Quad president blasts ‘trolls’, apologizes for misunderstanding in Quadtroversy

Forget about getting hosed or accepted into a bicker club. If you were on Yik Yak this week, the biggest drama of bicker season came from the sign-in club, Quad.

After the first round of sign-ins, Yik Yak exploded with complaints that Quad had misled potential new members about their fees in order to attract membership. The activity garnered so much attention that Quad’s president responded with a club-wide email to explain the misunderstanding, apologizing for not more actively communicating the club’s cost increase while maintaining that most of the facts were simply distorted via social media.

It was hard trying to piece things together.

There was obviously something wrong with the amount members were asked to pay.

Alleged members were complaining about the management.

Then, finally someone popped the golden question. What actually happened?

Some proof was provided.

In response to the controversy, Quad President, Katie Panskyy, sent out a lengthy email to all Dranglers explaining the situation. A full transcription is included at the bottom of this article, but here are the key points:

“I’m sorry if you have heard it first from YikYak and other social media outlets but Quad is raising its membership dues for the next school year. This change was in no way hidden and was posted on the Quad website.”

“Regarding the due increase, Quad, along with every other Eating Club, has raised their dues. Sophomore membership is $500 (down from $750) and Junior membership will be $8,600, the prices that we advertised since the beginning of January on the Weebly site and on the ICC site.”

“In addition, some students on YikYak have posed as quad members claiming to be disgruntled and that leadership has gone down after my election. That is a hard statement to swallow considering the massive renovations, developments of larger member events, and that membership has doubled/tripled in size.”

“To reiterate, our junior dues are still the lowest of all sign-in clubs”.

In her statement, Panskyy says the Yakkers claiming to be disgruntled Quad members were imposters.

However, the president did offer an apology for not making the fee increase clearer among current members:

“In retrospect, we should not have focused on informing only the prospective Sophomore members of this change but on informing the entirety of membership.”

Panskyy also concedes that an infographic containing incorrect fee information was circulated by ICC before sign-ins, but says Quad was unable to correct the information in a timely manner because the grad board had not yet selected a new fee:

“For Sophomores: the ICC infographic publicizing the wrong prices was released before our Graduate Board was able to finalize their decision thus preventing Quad from publicizing proper numbers. In addition, I am unable to access the official Quadrangle Club site and had assumed the Graduate Board would change the numbers. I was wrong and I apologize for any and all confusion.”

Here is the infographic Panskyy and Yakkers alluded to, which was distributed by the ICC one week before bicker:

Below is a full transcription of Panskyy’s message:

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Dearest Dranglers,

I’m sorry if you have heard it first from YikYak and other social media outlets but Quad is raising its membership dues for the next school year. This change was in no way hidden and was posted on the Quad website. However, this announcement was going to be made explicit to all of membership next week during the process of contract renewals, as is the typical process. In retrospect, we should not have focused on informing only the prospective Sophomore members of this change but on informing the entirety of membership.

In addition, some students on YikYak have posed as quad members claiming to be disgruntled and that leadership has gone down after my election. That is a hard statement to swallow considering the massive renovations, developments of larger member events, and that membership has doubled/tripled in size. I do hope that everyone understands how much time I spend in club and if there was ever anything that was concerning to you, I am always available to talk about it. After the summer, you can even knock on my door (1#) anytime in order to talk. 

Regarding the due increase, Quad, along with every other Eating Club, has raised their dues. Sophomore membership is $500 (down from $750) and Junior membership will be $8,600, the prices that we advertised since the beginning of January on the Weebly site and on the ICC site. For Sophomores: the ICC infographic publicizing the wrong prices was released before our Graduate Board was able to finalize their decision thus preventing Quad from publicizing proper numbers. In addition, I am unable to access the official Quadrangle Club site and had assumed the Graduate Board would change the numbers. I was wrong and I apologize for any and all confusion. These numbers, as stated on the website, are only for members in the 2015-2016 school year. As a sign-in club, these numbers are important to keep up as we accept new members throughout the year, and for these new members this number is the amount they pay. For older members: we do not know the official reason that prices have gone up and all explanations by the Board are very shaky. Some reasons by the Grad Board include: financial aid increasing by the university for juniors and the necessary change to restore dues to what they had originally been ($7800 was an attempt to increase membership). In addition, the Top 3 have been in a process of arguing with the Graduate Board in order to lower the prices back to the original $7,800 because we feel it is a more accurate price. Membership wasn’t told earlier because the announcement typically comes out when it is time to renew contracts and that the Graduate board made the decision only very recently.

To reiterate, our junior dues are still the lowest of all sign in clubs in order to try to allow everyone the opportunity to join. I apologize that the officer corp was not more vocal about the changes.  While our junior dues did increase, as did the dues of every other club on the street, our Graduate Board has made this increase anticipating that the University will increase financial aid and the number of shared meal plans. If financial aid does not increase or does not increase enough to cover the price change, Quad will cover the difference for any student on full financial aid. This will be in addition to our annual scholarship and other financial aid for Sophomores and Juniors we provide as I strongly believe that everyone should be able to experience an Eating Club.

While social media provides an excellent outlet for stress and trolls, please take that information with a grain of salt; we have been as transparent about our dues as possible. If you are a member that feels unhappy for any reason, please talk to me so that I can make it right. In addition, if there is any feedback that you have for the officer corp or any message that you want the Graduate Board to read, please send them to our Chris (arunh@). Lastly, if this price change could cause you to drop your Quad membership, please put your name on this list so that I, Chris, and Artur can present it to the board.

Warmest Regards,

Katie Panskyy

President of Quadrangle