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Secrecy in these organization goes back a long, long way. Even the Flat Hat Society, the precursor to Phi Beta Kappa at William and Mary was highly secretive. At the beginning (and for quite a long time afterwards) student life was entirely controlled by the faculty. Students had no right nor permission to discuss freely either inside or outside the classroom. The fact that these students were meeting without faculty involvement was in direct defiance of rules of the college. Furthermore, such meetings and societies were viewed as seditious, and membership therefore, treasonous to the Crown. Secrecy was essential to fraternities, and ultimately, one of the key things that set them apart from any other group.
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