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Revision as of 15:32, 13 May 2008
There are many collegiate secret societies in North America. They vary greatly in their levels of secrecy and independence from their universities. Strictly speaking, any collegiate society whose affairs, membership rolls, signs of recognition, initiation, or other aspects are kept secret from the public can be called a secret society. College fraternities, "social fraternities," singing groups, newspaper editorial boards, and other organizations sometimes meet this definition, but are not discussed here as such.
Collegiate secret societies often have names that are derived from one element or two elements in their emblems, such as Wolf's Head Society or Skull & Bones Society, both 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." Within some universities, "final clubs" are also regarded as secret societies.
The original selection process for entry into a collegiate secret society began at Yale University by a process called tapping.[1] 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 would 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.
From High School to College: A Culture of Collegiate Secret Societies
Collegiate secret societies within America's universities have a long tradition, initially started within East Coast colleges, and eventually trickling down into what became the secret societies found at America's oldest boarding schools. High school secret societies also have a long tradition within the Midwest. First with Chicago's upper class who sent their children to the city's elite, private college-preparatory schools, and eventually, also into Chicagoland's top-ranked public schools, such as New Trier High School and Hyde Park Academy, the latter within the vicinity of the University of Chicago.[2]
Between 1898 and 1908, high school secret societies were a recognizable feature within the school system, and Otto C. Schneider, President of the Chicago School Board of 1908, took an active role in stopping their influence within secondary schools. Initial growth in the Midwest may have been fueled by competition with the East Coast. Boston Latin, the oldest public school in America, and Erasmus High School often had football matches with Chicagoland's top public schools, thereby spreading an influence from the East Coast to the Midwest.[2] Many of Chicago's upper class students had East Coast connections, introductions could have been made to the K.O.A and A.U.V. (Auctoritas, Unitas, Veritas) secret societies of Phillips Academy, of which Skull and Bones inductee George H. Bush was a member of the latter.[3] The most elite high school secret society in America was Kappa Epsilon Pi, founded at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1891 and fashioned as the Preparatory Order of Skull and Bones. It became the model for all high school secret societies throughout America. [4]
Between 1880-1915 more than 50 high school secret societies were formed within Chicago. Hyde Park Academy, alone, had 18 groups,[2] and battles with secret societies within the village of Oak Park, Illinois were taken to the Appellate courts, ruling in favor of Oak Park schools to individually oversee all of their students' secret societies, rather than implement a general regulatory system across the board. The public Oak Park and River Forest High School attracted a Preppy student body, drawn to a "secret society culture", while the neighboring private school, Fenwick High School (Chicago, Illinois), continues to have the same "preppie" outlook. This social value system did, and continues, to effect collegiate secret societies.
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 Lion's Paw Senior Society[5]. The University of Iowa has an all-female secret society, The Tennyo, while the University of Michigan's group was known as Michigamua. Purdue University had the Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent,[6] and the University of Illinois continued with Ma-Wan-Da Senior Society.[7]
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.[8]
Three of 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 three groups are officially recorded to have existed. The secret societies of the University of Michigan, Purdue University, 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".[9][10] Purdue's secret society, the Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent, has a model based on ancient Roman ritual and 19th century mysticism. It was founded by John Purdue and Salmon Portland Chase in 1869 following the establishment of Lafayette Bank and Purdue University. Their rituals pertain to rites associated with America's founding fathers, and they have had historical associations with Skull and Bones and Amelia Earhart, the latter an instructor on Purdue's campus.[6] Curiously, Earhart was also an alumnus of Hyde Park Career Academy, one of the Illinois high schools known for its tradition of secret societies, while the noted head of Purdue's society, Baron dell'Albergo, is an alumnus of Oak Park, Illinois' Fenwick High School.[2][11] 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.[7] Each spring, only 15 of the most prestigious campus leaders were invited to join, after which, their names were inscribed onto an arrowhead-shaped plaque and hung on the Ma-Wan-Da Tree. This tradition continued until 1959 before the tree was cut down to make room for the Illini Union.[7][12]
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.[13] 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.[14] 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."[14] The college's administration of the society system at Dartmouth focuses on managing membership and tapping lists, and differs from that of Yale's, though there are historical parallels between the two colleges' societies.[15][16]
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.[17][18]
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.[19][20] 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.[21]
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.[22] 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.[21]
Tradition has it that the order upheld the "Dromgoole legend and the ideals of Arthurian knighthood and chivalry." From all accounts, the order is social in nature, and has no clandestine agenda. Membership is closed and information about the order is strictly confidential, as is access to archives which are less than 50 years old.[21]
University of Pennsylvania
There are several "secret societies" at the University of Pennsylvania. At UPenn, the term "secret society" generally denotes a social club that is independent of any official organization. For this reason, the society cannot be regulated by the university, and is not accountable to a national fraternal or sororal organization. Most of the all-male secret societies, such as "Owl Society," "OZ," and "THEOS," were founded by former members of fraternities after the fraternity to which they belonged had had been suspended by the university for disciplinary reasons. But other societies, such as the all-female "Tabard Society" (founded 1987), were founded by students who were not affiliated with any particular greek organization. At UPenn, secret societies are smaller than their greek counterparts, and tend to vary in degree of secrecy.[23][24]
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.[25] 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.[26]
The first truly "secret society" was the Seven Society, founded circa 1905.[27] 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,[28] 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;[29][30] 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".[31][32] 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,[15] and therefore the term "secret society" at Yale encompasses a variety of models: senior-only versus three-year, with or without Greek letters, affiliated with other campus chapters or stand-alone entities. From 1854-1956, "'Sheff'," the Sheffield Scientific School was the sciences and engineering college of Yale University, and it also had a fraternal culture that differed in some respects from the humanities campus, further enriching (and complicating) the picture.[33]
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.[34][35] 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, i.e. 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 is not 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.[36]
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."[37] Several societies were cited in the Official Preppy Handbook, including Skull and Bones, Elizabethan Club, Scroll and Key and St. Anthony Hall.
As an aside, the linguistic tendency at Yale for mortuary-themed concepts, i.e., tombs (read silence of a tomb), and the prevalence of Yale men in the creation of the U.S. intelligence community[38] 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
References
- ^ Bagg, Lyman Hotchkiss (1871). Four Years at Yale. New Haven: Charles C. Chatfield & Co. pp. 87–105.
- ^ a b c d Pruter, Robert (2003). "Chicago High School Football Struggles, The Fight for Faculty Control, and the War Against Secret Societies, 1898-1908". Illinois H.S.toric. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Andover". Skull and Bones. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Echols, Edward (1970). The Phillips Exeter Academy, A Pictorial History. Exeter Press.
- ^ "Lion's Paw Senior Society (Home Page)". Retrieved 2008-05-12.
- ^ a b "The Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent". NationMaster Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ a b c "Ma-Wan-Da Home". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Greek System Stories: Fact or Fiction". 2007-05-15. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Michigamua Image Gallery". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Michigamua Exposed". Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ AAE Distinguished Alumni, Purdue University 1990-1997, West Lafayette, IN. 1997
- ^ "Ma-Wan-Da Plaque". University of Illinois Archives. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ {{cite web|url=http://cornellsun.com/node/21711%7Ctitle=The Secret Life of A.D. White
- ^ a b "Senior Societies". Trustees of Dartmouth College. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
- ^ a b Scott Meacham (1999). "Halls, Tombs, and Houses: Student Society Architecture at Dartmouth". Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ Gomstyn, Alice (2001-05-18). "Secret societies remain veiled in mystery". The Dartmouth. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
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(help) - ^ "Facts on Final Clubs". The Harvard Crimson. 1999-03-03. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ Yee, April H.N. (2004-11-04). "Cutting Final Clubs Out of the Picture". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ West, Elliot (2006-10-31). "HALLOWEEN: Secret Society In Chapel Hill Owns Gimghoul Castle". Raleigh Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
- ^ "Gimghoul Castle". Retrieved 2008-05-04.
- ^ a b c "Inventory of the Order of Gimghoul Records, 1832-2006 (bulk 1940-1997)". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
- ^ "The Legend of Gimghoul". Ghost Stories of North Carolina. Retrieved 2008-05-04.
- ^ Oppenheim, Gabe (2006-08-11). "The Jekyll and Hyde of ZBT". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ Ghiselli, Margherita (2003-01-14). "Mystique of secret societies no secret among college students". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ Bruce, Philip Alexander (1921). History of the University of Virginia: The Lengthening Shadow of One Man. Vol. IV. New York: Macmillan. pp. 97–99, 338.
- ^ Bruce, Philip Alexander (1922). History of the University of Virginia: The Lengthening Shadow of One Man. Vol. V. New York: Macmillan. p. 283.
- ^ Dabney, Virginius (1981). Mr. Jefferson's University: A History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. pp. 305–306. ISBN 081390904X.
- ^ Bruce, IV:100.
- ^ "P.U.M.P.K.I.N.'s To Make Yearly Roll". Cavalier Daily. 1970-10-30.
- ^ Dabney, 502.
- ^ Dabney, 501.
- ^ Steer, Jay (1968-09-11). "Noted For Eccentricity, Mysteriousness: Societies Beneficial to University". Cavalier Daily.
- ^ "Yale's Lost Landmarks".
- ^ "Tombs and Taps: An inside look at Yale's Fraternities, Sororities and Societies". Light & Truth: The Yale Journal of Opinion and Investigative Reporting. 8 (1). 2001. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Francis-Wright, Tim (2001). "These are Charities? The Seamy Side of Yale's Most Exclusive Clubs". Bear Left!. 1. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ "Buildings and Grounds". Yale University Office of Facilities. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Branch, Mark Alden (2001). "Yale's Lost Landmarks: Delta Kappa Epsilon "Tomb," 1861-1927". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Heer, Jeet (2008-12-28). "School for spies: What the CIA learned (and mislearned) in the groves of academe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/Library_Bulletin/Apr2000/Good.html
- ^ http://www.lionspaw.org
- ^ http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/The-Sacred-Order-of-Skull-and-Crescent
- ^ http://www.berkeley.edu/news/magazine/summer_99/feature_bear.html
- ^ http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ro/www/Ma-Wan-DaSeniorHonorary/home.html
- ^ http://www.mainealumni.com/Skulls/History.html
- ^ "Honors Societies". University of Missouri–Columbia Department of Religious Studies. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ http://www.coffinandkeys.com
- ^ http://www.friarsseniorsociety.com
- ^ http://www.friarsociety.org/history/
- ^ Wyatt-Greene, Benjamin. "Mystical 7: A History". Wesleyan History Project. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
- ^ http://users.wpi.edu/~skull
- ^ http://www.wpi.edu/About/Tour/skull.html
Bibliography
- Robbins, Alexandra (2004). Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. New York, NY: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8859-8.
- Winks, Robin W. (1996). Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939-1961. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; 2nd edition. ISBN 0-30006524-8.
External links
- "How the Secret Societies Got That Way", Yale Alumni Magazine (September 2004)
- "Halls, Tombs and Houses: Student Society Architecture at Dartmouth"
- "Four Years at Yale" A late 19th century contemporary account of fraternal societies at two Connecticut Universities: Yale & Wesleyan
- An account of Purdue's Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent Society based from information contained within the "Debris" and digitalized onto microfilm.