The Lost Virtue of Skull and Bones

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During the final weeks of April in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale’s rising seniors spend their evenings wandering campus in costumes and masks. This is one of several elaborate initiation rituals intended to prepare students for membership in Yale’s secret societies. In recent years, the number of societies at Yale has ballooned. In 2021, 45 societies participated in the “Tap Letter,” an official declaration cosigned by outgoing society members in which they agree to best practices and an official timeline for the “tap” process. These newer, less prestigious societies with names like “Fork and Knife” or “Blood and Clown” have been established to meet undergraduate demand for society membership. But one society stands out for its absence on that document. While its name is missing from the list of the undersigned, there is no society at Yale more famous than Skull and Bones. At the apex of the American century, alumni of Skull and Bones—commonly just called Bones—wielded substantial influ

Gabriella Clare Marino/Fountain of the Four Rivers, Piazza Navona, Rome The following essay originally appeared in print in Palladium 04. To receive original content in future print editions, subscribe here . During the final weeks of April in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale’s rising seniors spend their evenings wandering campus in costumes and masks. This is one of several elaborate initiation rituals intended to prepare students for membership in Yale’s secret societies. In recent years, the number of societies at Yale has ballooned. In 2021, 45 societies participated in the “Tap Letter,” an of

The Lost Virtue of Skull and Bones

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