Student Club Calls the Squeeze Play When Going Gets Tough

STANFORD —  When the world gets to be too much, maybe a hug can help.

Michael McTeigue, a second-year student at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, thinks so. And he has turned his philosophy into a club that has 125 card-carrying members.

“Hugs are magic,” said McTeigue, sporting one of the group’s huggy bear T-shirts emblazoned with the challenge “Dare to Hug.”

Candidates for charter membership must first hug 20 people and bring back their signatures as proof. There’s also a $10 membership fee, but Hug Club officers say they have yet to turn a profit.

Members might suggest hugs to unsuspecting passers-by but they never force anyone into a clinch, and they’re rarely turned down.

‘One Bad Experience’

“I’ve only had one bad experience, with this woman professor who looked at me like I had lost all my marbles,” McTeigue said.

One student said he had been snagged by the huggers a few times and didn’t mind at all.

“I’m not a member but I think it’s a good idea,” Inder-jeet Gujral said.

McTeigue, son of a telecommunications executive, said he is considering expanding the Hug Club worldwide through mail-order sales.

“I know the world could use it,” he said. “My dad told me it’s a jungle out there.”