secret societies

[MoxieGrrl]

Why have secret societies if there are fraternities/sororities? I don't know enough about ss to answer this question, so maybe someone can help me out on this one....

I mean, what do they do? Is it like "The Skulls" where you get a new car, $$$ in your account, and a tux party with hot babes?

[AlphaChiGirl]

If Brown has one, I surely don't know about it (and I'm the sort of person who would have at least HEARD of it). If we have them, they are nowhere near as prominent as Skull and Key or Z/Imp/7. There were probably clubs in the past, but I'm sure the student body wanted to make them co-ed. We've lost a few national fraternities because of it...

[AngelPhiSig]

I just think that is so interesting... huh...

[twinstars]

Originally posted by MoxieGrrl
Why have secret societies if there are fraternities/sororities? I don't know enough about ss to answer this question, so maybe someone can help me out on this one....

I mean, what do they do? Is it like "The Skulls" where you get a new car, $$$ in your account, and a tux party with hot babes?

From what I understand, the female secret society at my school has mostly or all sorority members in it. They go through some weird hazing/initiation type stuff, and once they're in, I think they have parties every now and then. I don't think there's really much that they do other than that. Another all-male secret society on my campus always puts fliers with their symbol all over campus late at night so no ones sees them (they supposedly do this wearing scream-type costumes) and sometimes spraypaints their symbol on sorority houses or other places. I think this group actually has some money, and they've donated to the university.

[angel_kak]

I checked out the UVA website also and think this stuff is so cool...if anyone knows anything please post.

I loved the movie Secret Societies but have no clue if that is what is like...From what I've heard it is some rough stuff.

Kirsten

[Lil' Hannah]

I read this in From Here to Fraternity, a mediocre book about Greek life by Robert Egan

"UVA, designed by Thomas Jefferson, is one of the country's most beautiful campuses, buth what strikes a visitor most is not the classically styled red brick buildings, but the symbols 7, Z, and IMP painted all over them. They remain there, not because UVA is too busy to sandblast them, but because UVA is a very Greek and a very tradition-minded school, and they are the symbols for its most traditional and exclusive secret societies.

No one knows who the 7s are. (They might even be graduates.) All they know is that when one dies, the chapel bell rings seven times in the middle of the night. Rumor also has it that when the group makes a donation to a chairity or the school, the numbers are always in sevens (i.e.,$7,777.77).

The Zs and IMPs are less secretive (their names are published and they wear initialed rings), but no one knows exactly what they do. It is knowns that 1. most members are either Greeks or distinguished independents; 2. whenever Z is mentioned, any Zs present must leave the room; 3. the IMPs 'tap' their members by going to their houses in davil costumes, carrying tridents; and 4. any frathouse with a Z or IMP painted on the front has one or more members of that group in it."

[valkyrie]

Wow -- that is so interesting. Thanks for posting it!

[Corbin Dallas]

I've read some of this stuff before. I think the TNE website is http://www.tne.org i checked it out a while back. it's interesting. they allow greeks to join, but many fraternities have clauses against joining this group. also, Lil_G, Theta Kappa Nu is the fraternity that merged with Lambda Chi in 1939

[moe.ron]

bump cause I said so

[MysticCat]

Originally posted by DukeBlue
I know there's at least one here at Duke...and we're only a pseudo-Ivy.

And down the road at the University of North Carolina, there is the Order of the Gimghoul. They have their own castle not far from campus.

[katphishchick]

This thread was interesting and got me thinking and googling....here's a page with info about the UVA secret societies:

http://uvaguides.zapto.org/resources..._societies.asp

[azdtaxi]

These societies have always intrested me so much. Do they have them other places besides ivy league colleges?

[sageofages]

which secret societies are co-ed?

[Lil' Hannah]

Originally posted by azdtaxi
These societies have always intrested me so much. Do they have them other places besides ivy league colleges?

UVA isn't Ivy League, but by looking at that list posted above, it doesn't look like their secret societies serve much of a purpose, except for the 7 society, which seems more like a Skull and Bones type society. I would imagine a lot of the older private (and public too, for that matter) schools in the Northeast would have secret societies.

[AGDAlum]

The University of Missouri-Columbia has (or had?) a men's SS called Mystical Seven and a women's SS called LSV. (Said to stand for "League of Seven Virgins.")

Each spring a scandal sheet was published called Pi Xi. GLOs whose members were named had Pi Xis spray-painted on their houses.

The "secret society" could be an interesting study for an anthro, soc, or American studies major who needs a project.....