<p>I was reading up about secret societies at many colleges, and Columbia was the only Ivy that I never heard mentioned. Yale was the most notorious for having secret societies. Does anyone know if Columbia has any or if there is a ban, but then again how can you have a ban on secret societies if noone knows about it.</p>
<p>There's nothing "secret" about these. It isn't like nobody knows about Skull & Bones, right? None of the Ivies have these things anymore, as the days of WASP male only clubs are long gone.</p>
<p>Clearly Columbia2002 belonged/belongs to a secret society. How else to explain such a naive post? Notice it is also a non-denial denial. </p>
<p>This is secret society inside humor.</p>
<p>columbia 2002 your post is very inaccurate, first of all even though everyone knows that a skulls and bones exist no1 knows what they do. They even own an island known as Deer Island, that is still used. They are indeed, active. And they don't have to be male clubs, some of these societies accept females.</p>
<p>Both two-term U.S. President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry (Democratic candidate who lost the 2004 U.S. Presidential election to Bush) are members of Skull and Bones. Bush declined to talk about their common membership in the Order of Death during his February 9, 2004 appearance on NBC's Meet The Press.</p>
<p>Bush: It's so secret I can't talk about it.
Tim Russert: What does that mean for America? The conspiracy theorists are gonna go wild.
Bush: I'm sure they are, I don't know, I haven't seen their webpages yet. (laughs)
In another interview, when Kerry was in turn asked what he could reveal about Skull and Bones, Kerry said: Well not much, because it's a secret
Sorry, I wish there was something I could manifest
and then changed the subject.</p>
<p>Bush reportedly appointed 11 Skull and Bones members to his Administration in his first term.[2]</p>
<p>you can even go check this out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_society%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_society</a> several universities have these, maybe the reason that columbia isn't listed is because they are that damn good at hiding it.</p>
<p>Hmm... This is an interesting topic. I've never given the thought about secret societies. </p>
<p>So from what I've read so far, no one knows for sure about Columbia's societies, but many think there are ones at columbia.</p>
<p>i think there could be and since columbia's roots are as waspy as the others, there should be . If not I'll make 1 if I go.</p>
<p>I've heard that they do exist at Columbia. I'm not a conspiracy theorist and I don't think they have any real "power" in how things are run, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have some networking benefits in terms of jobs.</p>
<p>well i dunno but i heard that the yale secret society, skulls and bones, has a lot of power,</p>
<p>Well, I was really only referring to those within Columbia.</p>
<p>I suppose it's not terribly hard to believe that Skull and Bones would have more power (but things like controlling the govt. -- meh...). After all, those who are invited in are usually considerably wealthy anyway or come from influential families. Going back to networking, members can therefore get in touch with people higher up, and I think any power comes from those connections. I don't think, for example, that Skull and Bones secretly controls Bush, but perhaps members have an easier time climbing the federal ladder. I hear that its common for the editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News and the capt of the football team to be invited (dont remember where I read that).</p>
<p>Secret societies did interest me a lot at some point (mostly the older ones -- the Masons, for one), and then The Da Vinci Code sparked more interest. I think it's a pretty cool topic to discuss, and a conspiracy's always fun, but don't get carried away.</p>
<p>EDIT: I'll also add here that I think the Simpsons' Stonecutters episode is hilarious. Hehe.</p>
<p>Phantom--Networkng benefits in terms of jobs? You'll have no problem getting a job from Columbia unless you've got serious issues. And if you have issues, you probably won't be the type that any such secret society would want.</p>
<p>Confused-- Columbia's roots aren't as waspy as that of other ivies, by any means. In the mid 20th c., Columbia had so many Jews that they put quotas on the number of Jews who could attend. Other schools, including Harvard, had such practices. Columbia is definitely not a WASPy school.</p>
<p>COLUMBIA DOES HAVE SECRET SOCIETY(IES).</p>
<p>one of the alumni from my school is in one, i've heard. and... all they do is do coke. (apparently)</p>
<p>Columbia2002 -- I didn't SAY normal alums had problems getting jobs. I said that the members of the rumored secret societies may have better connections on their hands. More connections always help, which IMO, is one of the POSSIBLE benefits of a secret society. For example, I'm having a hell of a time finding a competitive summer internship right now, but I have a few friends who have pretty stellar ones already with the same (or even less) experience as me. Why? Because they have the connections (usually through parents or close family friends).</p>
<p>The elite people in secret societies are going to be the well-connected folks in the first place.</p>
<p>
[quote]
After all, those who are invited in are usually considerably wealthy anyway or come from influential families...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And I don't disagree with you there, Columbia2002.</p>
<p>Just a head's up-- summer internships are different ball of wax. In a 10 week summer college internship, you're most likely an "economic loss" to the company no matter how smart/experienced you are. So, an internship is more likely to be given out as a favor than to someone who is the most qualified and deserves it on the merits. Once you start interviewing for real jobs, connections aren't going to be as big a deal because you'll be able to add value wherever you go.</p>
<p>OfEternity, I think you may be referring to St. A's (St. Anthony's Hall, you guys can look it up on the intertron if you like.) from what I understand theyre kinda waspy and sketch in the 'secret society' sorta way. Of course they also have parties in their building on riverside drive, so it's not like the Skull and Bones fortress.</p>
<p>You have to remember that a) Columbia was incredibly small until the 20th century (200ish students total for most of the 19th century, and only that many undergrads even as the school expanded), and was almost entirely commuter until 1904, and still didn't become fully residential until the 1980's. To expand on what Columbia2002 said, Columbia was the least waspy Ivy school for that reason. By the turn of the 20th century the waspy sons of columbia's original elite decided to join their prep school mates and attend HPY etc than some unspirited tiny commuter school. The school fought to combat the growing jewish image by setting a quota (one that was never as bad as other Ivies), but that had the unintended side effect of making Columbia even more diverse since the wasps didnt come back- it opened the door for catholics and other groups looking for a step up.</p>
<p>In terms of what Columbia does have- there are a handful of frats and sororities, some pretty well established. Additionally there is the Philolexian Society, a 200 year old college literary society. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philolexian_Society%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philolexian_Society</a></p>
<p>I see the term waspy beign used, but in all the context I'm a bit lost as to waht it means. Can some one explain please?</p>
<p>White Anglo-Saxon Protestant is the acronym. Nowadays it could refer to any sort of privileged wealthy whites.</p>