Quote:
Originally posted by ZTAngel
My perception had been that if you are in a secret society, you aren't supposed to admit that you're in one. You're involvement in it is just as big of a secret as the ritual. I guess I always thought that after watching 'The Skulls'. But, I have heard so many references to the Bush family being part of Skull and Bones. Did they freely admit to their involvement or is their involvement just assumed by the public?
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Officially, members of Skull and Bones, or 'Bonesmen' (and women) do not acknowledge the fact that they belong to that organization. Traditionally, Bonesmen are supposed to leave the room whenever the name of the society is mentioned. Only 12 are 'tapped' into Skull and Bones each year from the senior class; no one knows who gets selected until a ceremony called 'Tap Day' in the spring of the junior year.
The extreme secrecy surrounding the organization and the limited number of members selected make it a very elite organization on the Yale campus, and it's not surprising that it attracts many movers and shakers in politics and government, especially if the father is a Bonesman as well.
Skull and Bones is a legacy of the old Yale literary society system of the mid 1800s. My fraternity, Alpha Sigma Phi, was originally founded in 1845 as a sophomore literary society along with its rival Kappa Sigma Theta (now defunct). When they became juniors they either joined Delta Kappa Epsilon or Psi Upsilon (at the time they were class societies at Yale) and were later selected to Skull and Bones and other senior class societies; it was not unusual for one to belong to four different fraternities in four years.
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