Collegiate secret societies in North America

There are numerous collegiate secret societies at American and Canadian colleges and universities. They vary a great deal in how secret they actually are, how much they function as an independent organization, and how they are connected to the university. Strictly speaking, any society with society affairs, membership rolls, signs of recognition, initiation, that is kept secret from the public can be counted as a secret society. College fraternities, "social fraternities," singing groups, newspapers and other editorial boards, etc. sometimes meet this definition, but are not included here as such.

Collegiate secret societies often have names that derive 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 often associated with many secret societies, and clubhouses are often called "tombs".

The original selection process is attributed to the Yale University, where membership selection started as a process called "tapping". At a publicly announced evening, the Yale undergraduates would assemble informally in the College Yard. Current members of the Yale secret societies would walk through the crowd and literally tap prospective members on the shoulder and then walk with him up into the tapped man's room in the dormitories There in private they would ask him to become a member. Note that during the course of this process, it was plainly obvious to the whole college who was being tapped for the coming year. As a result the process is no longer public and the societies take much effort to keep the process concealed.

Below is a list of some well-known collegiate secret societies. The list is not exhaustive; new secret societies are founded each year and some older groups are not included.

Selected secret societies of colleges/universities in North America

Name	Year Established	College or University	Member limit	Active or honorary
The NoZe Brotherhood	1924	Baylor University	Open	Active
Pacifica House	1824	Brown University	?	Active
Bishop James Madison Society	1812, 20th century	College of William and Mary	?	?
Flat Hat Club	1750	College of William and Mary	Senior	Honorary
The Wren Society	1832, 20th century	College of William and Mary	?	Honorary
St. Anthony Hall	1847	Columbia University	?	Literary society
Sphinx Head	1890	Cornell University	Senior	Class society
Quill and Dagger	1893	Cornell University	Senior	Class society
The Sphinx	1886	Dartmouth College	Senior	Class society
Dragon Society	1898	Dartmouth College	Senior	Class society
Fire & Skoal--went secret in 2005	1975	Dartmouth College	Senior	Class society
Phrygian	2005	Dartmouth College	Senior	Class society
Abaris Society	?	Dartmouth College	Senior	Class society
Cobra Society	?	Dartmouth College	Senior	Class society
Raven's Claw Society	1896	Dickinson College	Senior	Class society
Society of the Seven	1946	East Carolina University	Senior	Class society
Order of the Cupola	1998	East Carolina University	Alumni	Recognition
D.V.S. Senior Honor Society	1902	Emory University	Senior	Honorary
Burning Spear Society	1993	Florida State University	Senior	Honorary
ANAK Society	1908	Georgia Institute of Technology	Senior	Honorary
Medical Faculty Society[1]	1818	Harvard University	All	n/a
Porcellian_Club	1791	Harvard University	'	'
Chi	1900	Longwood University	'	'
Red Dragon Society	18??	New York University	Senior	Society
Eucleian Society	1832	New York University	?	Latin society
Philomathean Society	1832	New York University	?	Latin society
St. Anthony Hall	?	Princeton University	Senior	Class society
Phalanx	1912	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Senior	Honorary
Cap and Skull	1900	Rutgers University	Senior	Honorary
Order of the Bull's Blood (actual existence is "highly questionable")	1834	Rutgers University	Senior	Honorary
The Machine	1914	University of Alabama	Interfraternity	Class society
Order of the Golden Bear	1901	University of California, Berkeley	?	Free speech society
Skull & Keys	1892	University of California, Berkeley	?	Men's honor society
Petal and Thorn	1927	University of Delaware	Senior	Class society
Florida Blue Key	1923	University of Florida	?	Key society
The Senior Skull Honor Society	1906	University of Maine	Senior Men	Honorary
Iron Arrow Honor Society	1926	University of Miami	Senior	Honorary
Order of Angell	1902	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	Senior	Active
St. Anthony Hall	1855	University of Mississippi	?	Literary society
QEBH	1897	University of Missouri	Senior	Honorary
Mystical Seven	known publicly since 1907	University of Missouri	Senior	Honorary
L.S.V.	1907	University of Missouri	Senior	Women's Honorary
Society of Innocents	1903	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	Senior	Honorary
Coffin and Keys	1916	University of Nevada	Senior	Active
Order of Gimghoul[[2]]	1889	University of North Carolina	Senior	Class society
Order of the Golden Fleece [[3]][[4]]	1904	University of North Carolina	Senior	Honorary
Order of the Gorgon's Head [[5]]	1897	University of North Carolina	Senior	Class society
Order of the Grail-Valkyries [6]	1920 and 1941	University of North Carolina	All	All
The Philomathean Society	1813	University of Pennsylvania	50	Latin society
The Eyes of Texas	1976	University of Texas	?'	Honorary
Episkopon	1858	University of Trinity College	All	Class society
IMP Society	1902	University of Virginia	Senior	Class society
Raven Society	1904	University of Virginia	Senior	Class society
Seven Society	1905	University of Virginia	Senior	Class society
Z Society	1892	University of Virginia	Senior	Class society
Malt & Barley Editors	1989	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Law school	Review editors
Iron Cross (Secret Society)	1902	University of Wisconsin-Madison	Junior & Senior	Honor
Twenty-Threes	1923	Wake Forest University	Junior & Senior	Active
Mystical Seven	1837	Wesleyan University
Theta Nu Epsilon	1870	Wesleyan University	Sophomore	Class society
Skull	1945	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Senior	Class society
Skull and Bones	1832	Yale University	Senior	Class society
Skull and Dagger	1812	Yale University	all	Class society
Scroll and Key	1842	Yale University	Senior	Class society
Berzelius	1848	Yale University	Senior	Class society
Book and Snake	1863	Yale University	Senior	Class society
St. Anthony Hall	1867	Yale University	Three year	Society
Wolf's Head	1883	Yale University	Senior	Class society
Elihu	1903	Yale University	Senior	Class society
Manuscript Society	1952	Yale University	Senior	Class society
Sage and Chalice	?	Yale University	Senior
Mace and Chain	1956	Yale University	Senior	Class society

Secret societies of colleges/universities in Latin America

Name	Year Established	College or University	Country	Member limit	Active or honorary	Status
OFUS Sigma Mi	?	ITESM	Mexico (Monterrey)	Senior	Class society	Actual existence is "highly questionable"

Society systems in North American colleges and universities

Cornell University

Cornell University hosts a rich history of secret societies on campus. Andrew Dickson White, the first President of Cornell University and himself a Skull and Bones man, is said to have encouraged the formation of a secret society system on campus. At the height of prominence on campus, there were over two-dozen different secret societies. However, the liberalization of the 1960s spelled the end of a majority of the societies as students rebelled against the establishment. A majority of the societies disappeared or became inactive in a very short time period. Today only two organizations operate on campus, Sphinx Head (1890) and Quill and Dagger (1893). Each society seeks to honor the top 1% of the rising senior class for significant community service, leadership and service to Cornell University. Membership is mutually exclusive between the two organizations.

Dartmouth College

Main article: Dartmouth College student groups § Senior societies

Dartmouth'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." 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." 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.

Harvard University

Main article: Final_club

Harvard 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:

All male

• Fly Club, (1836), a successor of the fraternity Alpha Delta Phi
• The Phoenix - S K Club (1897)
• Porcellian (1791, originally called The Argonauts), the most famous and often bracketed with Yale's Skull and Bones

Other

• 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.

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.

Yale University

Main article: List of Yale University student organizations § Senior societies

The term "Secret society" at Yale 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 , 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. 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, 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. 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." 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)

University of Iowa Although the date cannot be confirmed as of yet, there is a secret honorary society of women academics that apparently started in 1975. Known as "The Tennyo," 15 women who were frustrated by a highly sexist ivory tower, decided to develop strong networks for publication, fund raising and professional development in private. They belonged to various disciplines and departments throughout the university.

They borrowed from the Japanese folk tales about Tennyo goddesses who were quite curious about human civilization on earth. Often, seduced by men, these goddesses were forced to give up the magical part of themselves in order to remain on earth--torn between their heavenly existence and earthly one, Tennyo were both melancholy and full of lament.

The Tennyo at the University of Iowa believed that women would never be fully successful in the academy without private and secretly shared resources. They boast of an international membership that is highly exclusive. It is said that although they support all women in the academy, not all women in the academy were equipped to be leaders and members of the Tennyo. Using traditional images of goddesses, members were invited through a postcard. Higher ranking officials supposedly wore the ancient image of the earth goddess.

Women academics claim to have received fellowships, child care, dissertation office rentals, publication opportunities with a signed card from the anonymous "Tennyo."

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Secret Societies of colleges/universities in Western Europe

University of Cambridge, England

• Cambridge Apostles (1820)

Uppsala University, Sweden

• Juvenalorden (1907)

Secret Societies of colleges/universities in Africa

Nigeria

• National Association of Seadogs

See also

• Fraternities and sororities

Bibliography

• Robbins, Alexandra (2004). Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-8859-8.
• Winks, Robin W. (1996). Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939-1961. New Haven: Yale University Press; 2nd edition (March 27, 1996). ISBN-10: 0300065248.

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
• [7] Secret Society in Mexico