Collegiate secret societies in North America Totally Explained

Everything about Collegiate Secret Societies In North America totally explained

There are many collegiate secret societies in North America. They vary greatly in their levels of secrecy and independence from their universities. As the term is used in this article, a secret society is a collegiate society where significant effort is made to keep affairs, membership rolls, signs of recognition, initiation, or other aspects secret from the public. In the traditional secret society, for example at Yale University, meetings (typically held twice a week) focus on personal revelation and can involve arcane rituals. Because many of these societies limit their membership to college seniors, they're also commonly referred to as senior societies on many campuses. Other types of collegiate organizations, such as honor societies, college fraternities, "social fraternities," singing groups, newspaper editorial boards, and other organizations may meet parts of this definition, but are not within the scope of this article. Collegiate secret societies often have names that are derived from elements in their emblems, such as Wolf's Head Society, Book and Snake, or Skull & Bones Society, all of which are at Yale University. Secret societies typically have emblems that identify membership. Death-inspired imagery is associated with many secret societies, and clubhouses are often called "tombs."
The original selection process for entry into a collegiate secret society began at Yale University by a process called tapping. On a publicly announced evening, Yale undergraduates would assemble informally in the College Yard. Current members of Yale's secret societies would walk through the crowd and literally tap a prospective member on the shoulder and then walk with him up to the tapped man's dorm room. There, in private, they'd ask him to become a member of their secret society, of which the inductee had the choice of accepting or rejecting the offer of membership. During this process, it was publicly known who was being tapped for the coming year. Today, the selection process is no longer public, but often continues to be called tapping.

Big Ten Universities

The industrial and technological growth of the 19th century, and the Morrill Act, by which government funding was given to establish agriculture and technology universities, which would eventually make up the Big Ten, attracted top students from all over the U.S. who became interested in such fields. Several Big Ten schools are "Public Ivies." UIUC College of Engineering and the Purdue University College of Engineering are top-ranked engineering schools, and the University of Michigan has a secret society just for technology students, the Vulcan Senior Engineering Society.
Over the years, many noted secret societies have been established within Big Ten schools. Ohio State University is noted for its Sphinx Senior Society. Penn State University is known for the Skull and Bones Senior Society and the Lion's Paw Senior Society. The University of Iowa has an all-female secret society, The Tennyo, while the University of Michigan's group was known as Michigamua. The University of Illinois continued with Ma-Wan-Da Senior Society.
Today, most elite Big Ten secret societies were forced to become honor societies or go completely sub rosa. This was the result of the Greek system having too much influence over regulations on campus groups. Purdue has an enormous Greek system, and the University of Illinois has the largest in the nation. The Big Ten's most noted secret societies have little documented information that can be verified by outsiders. All that can be known, for certain, is that the following groups are officially recorded to have existed. The secret societies of the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois all have a unique and highly complex organization. Michigan's society, Michigamua, has been inspired by the rituals and culture of the Native Americans of the United States. Since its founding, it has evolved into the Order of Angell, which first used the tower of their campus union as their "tomb". The secret society of the University of Illinois, Ma-Wan-Da, now honorary, used Native American symbolism similar to Michigamua. Emblems include the bronze arrowhead and the white carnation flower, Dianthus caryophyllus.

Cornell University

Cornell University has a rich history of secret societies on campus. Andrew Dickson White, the first President of Cornell University and himself a Bonesman, is said to have encouraged the formation of a secret society system on campus. In the early years, the fraternities were called the "secret societies," but as the Greek system developed into a larger, more public entity, "secret society" began to refer only to the class societies. In the early twentieth century, Cornell students belonged to sophomore, junior, and senior societies, as well as honorary societies for particular fields of study. Liberalization of the 1960s spelled the end of these organizations as students rebelled against the establishment. The majority of the societies disappeared or became inactive in a very short time period, and today, only two organizations operate on campus: Sphinx Head (founded in 1890) and Quill and Dagger (founded in 1893). Each society seeks to honor the top 1% of the rising senior class for significant leadership, service to Cornell University and the community, and good character. Membership is mutually exclusive between the two organizations.

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College's Office of Residential Life states that the earliest senior societies on campus date to 1783 and "continue to be a vibrant tradition within the campus community." Abaris Society and Cobra Society are two such examples. Six of the eight senior societies keep their membership secret, while the other societies maintain secretive elements. According to the college, "approximately 25% of the senior class members are affiliated with a senior society."

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill contains the archives of the Order of Gimghoul, a secret society headquartered at the Gimghoul Castle. The order was founded in 1889 by Robert Worth Bingham, Shepard Bryan, William W. Davies, Edward Wray Martin, and Andrew Henry Patterson, who were students at the time.
The society is open to "notable" male students (rising juniors and higher), and faculty members by invitation. The society centers itself around the legend of Peter Dromgoole, a student who mysteriously disappeared from the UNC campus in 1833. The founders originally called themselves the Order of Dromgoole, but later changed it to the Order of Gimghoul to be, "in accord with midnight and graves and weirdness," according to the university's archives.

University of Virginia

Secret societies have been a part of University of Virginia student life since the founding of the Eli Banana society in 1878. Early secret societies, such as Eli Banana and T.I.L.K.A., had secret initiations but public membership; some, such as the Hot Feet, now the IMP Society, were very public, incurring the wrath of the administration for public revels.
The first truly "secret society" was the Seven Society, founded circa 1905. Nothing is known about the Seven Society except for their philanthropy to the University; members are revealed at their death. A few other societies that flourished around the turn of the century, such as the Z Society (formerly Zeta), who were founded in 1892, the IMP Society, reformulated in 1913 after the Hot Feet were banned in 1908, and Eli Banana, are still active at the University today.
New societies have periodically appeared at the University during the 20th century. The most notable are the P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society, a secret group that rewards contributions to the University and which was founded prior to 1970; and the Society of the Purple Shadows, founded 1963, who are only seen in public in purple robes and hoods and who seek to "safeguard vigilantly the University traditions". Many of the secret societies listed contribute to the University either financially or through awards or some other form of recognition of excellence at the University.

Yale University

The term "Secret society" at Yale University encompasses organizations with many shared but not necessarily identical characteristics. The oldest surviving undergraduate secret societies at Yale derive from various 19th c. fraternal organization traditions, rooted in the Enlightenment society-founding boom, Yale's history contains numerous fraternal organizations that have become defunct, those remaining survived owing to confluences of endowments, real estate, and the vigor of their respective alumni organizations and their charitable Trusts. Across this spectrum, common features of Yale secret societies are that they (usually) have fifteen members per class, they own their "tomb" which is wholly or partially closed to non-members (unlike a club such as the Elizabethan Club whose members may bring their guests). Secret societies at Yale "tap" their members, mostly on the same "Tap Night," and a member is off-limits to recruitment by another secret society, for example reciprocal exclusivity -- in contrast to Yale's singing groups which also "tap," but whose members may also join a society. As hybrids like Sage and Chalice and St. Anthony Hall demonstrate, it isn't possible to draw clear distinctions between these secretive organizations. Yale's Buildings and Grounds Department refers to some as "senior societies" in its online architectural database.
The Yale Alumni Magazine contains historical references to fraternities also possessing "tombs." A series of articles on Dartmouth and Yale secret society architecture provides an overview of the buildings as "a uniquely American representation of the joining spirit, (that) are crucial to an understanding of the organizations they represent." Several societies were cited in the Official Preppy Handbook, including Skull and Bones, Elizabethan Club, Scroll and Key, Book and Snake and St. Anthony Hall.
As an aside, the linguistic tendency at Yale for mortuary-themed concepts, for example, tombs (read silence of a tomb), and the prevalence of Yale men in the creation of the U.S. intelligence community may be why the term "spook" (an undergraduate society member) became a colloquialism for a spy. (For more on Yale secret society members' influences on intelligence agencies, see the book Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939-1961 by historian Robin W. Winks).

List of selected North American collegiate secret societies

Name	ear Established	ollege or University	ocation	ember Limit
Franklin Society	1824	Brown University	Providence, RI, United States
Bishop James Madison Society	1812	College of William and Mary	Williamsburg, VA, United States
Flat Hat Club	1750	College of William and Mary	Williamsburg, VA, United States	Senior
Wren Society	1832	College of William and Mary	Williamsburg, VA, United States
Sphinx Head	1890	Cornell University	Ithaca, NY, United States	Senior
Quill and Dagger	1893	Cornell University	Ithaca, NY, United States	Senior
The Sphinx	1886	Dartmouth College	Hanover, NH, United States	Senior
Casque and Gauntlet	1887	Dartmouth College	Hanover, NH, United States	Senior
Dragon Society	1900	University of California, Berkley	Berkeley, CA, United States	Senior
Petal and Thorn	1927	University of Delaware	Newark, DE, United States	Senior
Ma-Wan-Da	1912	University of Illinois	Urbana, IL, United States	Senior
The Senior Skull Honor Society	1906	University of Maine	Orono, ME, United States	Senior Men
Order of Angell	1902	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor, MI, United States	Senior
QEBH	1897	University of Missouri–Columbia	Columbia, MO, United States	Senior
Mystical Seven	1907	University of Missouri–Columbia	Columbia, MO, United States	Senior
LSV Society	1907	University of Missouri–Columbia	Columbia, MO, United States	Senior Women
Coffin and Keys	1916	University of Nevada, Reno	Reno, NV, United States	Senior
Friars senior society	1901	University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia, PA, United States	Senior
Friar Society	1911	University of Texas at Austin	Austin, TX, United States	Senior
Episkopon	1858	University of Trinity College	Toronto, ON, Canada	All
Eli Banana	1878	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
T.I.L.K.A.	1889	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
IMP Society	1902	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
Seven Society	1905	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
Z Society	1892	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
Society of the Purple Shadows	1963	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
P.U.M.P.K.I.N. Society	ca. 1967	University of Virginia	Charlottesville, VA, United States
Mystical Seven	1837	Wesleyan University	Middletown, CT, United States
Theta Nu Epsilon	1870	Wesleyan University	Middletown, CT, United States	Sophomore
Skull society	1911	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Worcester, MA, United States	Senior
Skull and Bones	1832	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Scroll and Key	1842	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Berzelius	1848	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Book and Snake	1863	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
St. Anthony Hall	1867	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Three Year
Wolf's Head	1883	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Elihu	1903	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Manuscript Society	1952	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Sage and Chalice		Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior
Mace and Chain	1956	Yale University	New Haven, CT, United States	Senior

Similar collegiate organizations

Although not secret societies in the sense defined above, organizations with some similarities to the traditional secret society exist on other campuses. For example, at Harvard and Princeton, organizations known as "final clubs" and "eating clubs" play, in some ways, a roughly similar role as secret societies on other campuses.

Harvard University

Harvard University contains its own variant of historic and secretive undergraduate fraternal (there are also sororal) organizations. The Final Clubs are not referred to in Cambridge as "secret societies" only because in the Harvard context, that appellation is unnecessary to convey characteristics identical to collegiate "secret societies" elsewhere. Principal amongst these are secretiveness about their respective selection/election procedures, which has always prompted debate about elitism, total opacity with regard to their initiation and meeting rituals, avoidance of public posting of full membership lists, and maintenance of their buildings by alumni trust organizations. The notable variation is in their size, approximately sixty students per club (Yale societies have 15-16 seniors only). Furthermore, several do permit non-members inside their buildings in the company of members at specified times of the week (or only let in guests of the opposite sex but not of the same sex of the members). However the Porcellian and the Delphic never allow any non-member undergraduates inside their buildings, and non-member Harvard faculty only in very rare instances. "Punch Season" and the "Final Dinner" is analogous to "Tap" at Yale.
Final Clubs at Harvard include the Fly Club, (1836), a successor of the fraternity Alpha Delta Phi; The Phoenix - S K Club (1897); Porcellian (1791, originally called The Argonauts), and the The Signet Society, a Harvard literary club rather than a Final Club, is also regarded on campus and by members as a "semi-secret" society.

Princeton University

The majority of upperclassmen at Princeton University take their meals in one of ten eating clubs, which are private organizations resembling both dining halls and social houses. Nearly three-quarters of upperclassmen (third- and fourth-year students) at Princeton take their meals at the eating clubs, the clubs are private institutions and are not affiliated with Princeton University. Each club occupies a large mansion. The primary function of the eating clubs is to serve as dining halls for the majority of third- and fourth-year students. Unlike fraternities and sororities, to which the clubs are sometimes compared, all of the clubs admit both male and female members, and members (with the exception of some of the undergraduate officers) don't live in the mansion.
Currently, there are ten eating clubs. Five clubs — University Cottage Club, Cap and Gown Club, The Ivy Club, Tiger Inn ("TI"), and Princeton Tower Club (in addition to Cannon Club, which will reopen in spring 2008) — are selective, choosing their members through a process called "bicker." Five clubs - Cloister Inn, Princeton Charter Club, Colonial Club, Quadrangle Club, and Terrace Club - are non-selective. These clubs' members are chosen through a lottery process called "sign-in."

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