Medusa Society

Last updated
Medusa Society
FoundedJune 1892
Trinity College
TypeSenior secret society
AffiliationIndependent
StatusDefunct
ScopeLocal
Chapters1
Headquarters Hartford , Connecticut
United States

The Medusa Society was an undergraduate secret society at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. Though non-continuous in its presence on campus, it had a purported founding date of 1840. It went inactive in the 1970s. [1]

Contents

History

Modeled on the senior societies at Yale, Medusa was founded at Trinity in June 1892 by a group of eighteen juniors as a student governmental body and honor society "responsible for the maintenance of College tradition." This organization was believed to be the direct successor to the Grand Tribunal, an institution founded at Washington College in 1840 by seniors and juniors as a rudimentary form of student government [2] which had ceased to exist by 1890. [3]

As an underground society in its current state, the Medusa maintains a high level of secrecy on Trinity's campus and is not recognized by Trinity College. Most information about the society is learned through word of mouth. Medusa members acknowledge each other through a system of archaic hand gestures and expressions that are known only to members. [4]

Symbols and traditions

The members wore pins bearing the head of Medusa, which lent its name to the society.

Membership

Throughout the 20th Century, membership of the Medusa represented "the campus sophisticate who had shown enough ingenuity to have himself 'tapped,'"—"tapping" referring to the public initiations which occurred on the Quad near the end of each spring semester. This public display differed greatly from those of the 19th Century Tribunal, whose clandestine ceremonies "were conducted at night with elaborate and mysterious incantations, replete with coffin, human skeleton, sacred seals, and liquid flame, [which] attracted much attention from the Hartford townsfolk." [5]

The initiation ceremonies became well known on campus up until the 1960s, attesting to the prestige of its members. In Trinity College in the Twentieth Century, it is explained that "there was occasional criticism of the Medusa's exclusiveness, and there was some dissatisfaction with the Medusa's having designated itself as the senior honorary society." [6]

In its present form, little is known about what membership in the Medusa is predicated on. New members are chosen and "tapped" on random dates throughout the academic year.

Activity

Prior to its dissolution, the tapping ceremony was a yearly tradition that all students looked forward to. Taking place in the spring before the statue of Bishop Brownell, outgoing members of the society tapped seven juniors who had especially distinguished themselves in their first three years at Trinity. [7] "Originally [...] the supreme adjudicative system on campus," [8] a gradual shift in authority to the student government ultimately led to the obsolescence of the Medusa's presence on campus after 1968. In the decades that followed, various attempts by students were made sporadically to revive the Medusa, [9] [10] [11] each time with a new mission statement. The last public manifestation saw Medusa as a platform for course evaluations in 1971. [12]

Medusa held meetings in semi-permanent locations across Trinity's campus where its members socialized and conducted business. Due to the secretive nature of the organization, the locations remained unknown to most students and faculty. However, the most recent iteration of the society met Thursdays at 4am in Mather Hall. In its latest revival, the purpose of the organization is unclear.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skull and Bones</span> Secret society at Yale University, US

Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior-class society at the university, Skull and Bones has become a cultural institution known for its powerful alumni and various conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale College</span> Undergraduate college of Yale University

Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, when its schools were confederated and the institution was renamed Yale University. It is ranked as one of the top colleges in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity College (Connecticut)</span> Private liberal arts college in the US

Trinity College is a private liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Founded as Washington College in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut. Coeducational since 1969, the college enrolls 2,235 students. Trinity offers 41 majors and 28 interdisciplinary minors. The college is a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elihu Club</span> Senior society at Yale University, US

Elihu Club or Elihu is the fourth oldest senior society at Yale University, New Haven, CT. It was founded in 1903 and takes its name from Elihu Yale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Anthony Hall</span> American coed collegiate fraternity

St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on January 17, 1847, the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. The fraternity is a non–religious, nonsectarian organization. In 1879, William Raimond Baird's American College Fraternities characterized the fraternity as having "the reputation of being the most secret of all the college societies." A 2015 writer for Vanity Fair says the fraternity is "a cross between Skull and Bones and a Princeton eating club, with a large heaping of Society and more than a dash of Animal House." Nearly all chapters of St. Anthony Hall are coed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Campus</span>

The Old Campus is the oldest area of the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the principal residence of Yale College freshmen and also contains offices for the academic departments of Classics, English, History, Comparative Literature, and Philosophy. Fourteen buildings—including eight dormitories and two chapels—surround a 4-acre (1.6 ha) courtyard with a main entrance from the New Haven Green known as Phelps Gate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omicron Delta Kappa</span> American honor society

Omicron Delta Kappa (ΟΔΚ), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an honor society located in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded on December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by fifteen student and faculty leaders. The society recognizes achievement in five areas: scholarship; athletics; campus and community service, social or religious activities, and campus government; journalism, speech, and the mass media; and creative and performing arts. Some circles of ΟΔΚ are quasi-secret, in that newly selected members remain undisclosed for some time.

There are many collegiate secret societies in North America. They vary greatly in their level of secrecy and the degree of independence from their universities. A collegiate secret society makes a significant effort to keep affairs, membership rolls, signs of recognition, initiation, or other aspects secret from the public.

The traditions of Dartmouth College, an American Ivy League college in Hanover, New Hampshire, are deeply entrenched in the student life of the institution and are well known nationally. Dartmouth's website counts the college's "special traditions" among its "essential elements", and in his inauguration address, former College president James E. Wright said that the school is "a place that is marked by strong traditions". Some of these traditions remain supported by the administration, while others are officially discouraged.

Annhurst College was a private American Catholic college in South Woodstock, Connecticut, which operated from 1941 to 1980. The school was founded and administered by the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, a religious congregation of women founded in France in 1706, who are primarily dedicated to education. The college's curriculum was career-focused.

<i>The Trinity Tripod</i> Student newspaper of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut

The Trinity Tripod is the only student newspaper and student publication of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Since 2006, the Tripod has been arranged with five sections, in order, News, Opinions, Features, Arts and Sports. The Tripod also publishes editorials and letters to the editor on Page Two. A typical issue of the Tripod has 12 pages and is published weekly on Tuesdays when classes are in session.

The Boar's Head Feast is a festival of the Christmas season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skull & Keys</span> American collegiate honor society

Skull & Keys was a men's honor society at the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. The organization was started by Theta Nu Epsilon. Skull & Keys was the first of several collegiate secret societies that formed from the fraternity system at Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hartford College for Women</span>

The Hartford College for Women was a two-year private college for women located in Hartford, Connecticut. It was opened in 1933, became a constituent college of the University of Hartford (UHart) in 1991, and closed in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mystical Seven (Wesleyan)</span> Honor society at Wesleyan University, US

The Mystical Seven was a society founded in 1837 at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Members were called Mystics. The society died in 1890, with its surviving temples merging into other national fraternities. It was restarted as a local honorary at Wesleyan University in the late 19th century.

Central Connecticut State University's annual undergraduate commencement exercises are held on campus each May. From 1989 to 2016, separate graduation ceremonies were held for recipients of postgraduate degrees. Additional midyear undergraduate commencements were held at the end of the fall terms from 1988 to 1993 and at several other points in the university's history, most recently in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Tudor</span>

Samuel Tudor IV, Esq. (1769–1862) was a nineteenth-century American entrepreneur, business and civic leader of Hartford, Connecticut. He was a founding director of Aetna Insurance Company, the Phoenix National Bank and the Society of Savings Bank of Hartford, as well as a founding trustee and major early benefactor of Trinity College. Tudor was also connected with the establishment of many of the leading institutions of that city. He was a director of the American Asylum School for the Deaf, the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the U.S., and a co-founder of the Hartford Academy.

Edna Negron Rosario is an American educator who founded the first family resource center and school-based health clinic in the United States. She was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanne Berger-Sweeney</span> American neuroscientist and college administrator

Joanne E. Berger-Sweeney is an American neuroscientist and the 22nd president of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. She is the first African-American and the first woman to serve in the position. Earlier in her career, Berger-Sweeney did proof-of-concept work on galantamine, the second-most used drug to treat Alzheimer's disease.

The Koeppel Community Center is an indoor ice hockey arena on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. It is home to the Trinity Bantams men's and women's ice hockey programs and has seating for 3,400 spectators.

References

  1. ↑ "Medusa". Trinity University. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
  2. ↑ Weaver, Glenn (1967). "VII: This Dear Little University". The History of Trinity College, Volume I. Hartford: Trinity College Press. p. 103.
  3. ↑ Weaver, Glenn (1967). "XIII: A New Regime". The History of Trinity College, Volume I. Hartford: Trinity College Press. p. 219.
  4. ↑ Knapp, Peter J.; Knapp, Anne H. (2000). Trinity College in the Twentieth Century: a History. Hartford, Connecticut: Trinity College. p. 46.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Glenn (1967). "X: The Gilded Age". The History of Trinity College, Volume I. Hartford: Trinity College Press. p. 161.
  6. ↑ Knapp, Peter J.; Knapp, Anne H. (2000). Trinity College in the Twentieth Century: a History. Hartford, Connecticut: Trinity College. p. 46.
  7. ↑ The Ivy, Trinity's Yearbook. Hartford, Connecticut: Trinity College. 1950. p. 97.
  8. ↑ "Traditions". The Trinity Tripod. No. 29. Trinity College Press. February 12, 1971. p. 7.
  9. ↑ J.A.S. (March 21, 1989). "Op-Ed: Editorial". The Trinity Tripod. No. 16. Trinity College Press. p. 2.
  10. ↑ Jamie Griffith (November 12, 1996). "SGA Hosts Open Forum On Alcohol Policy". The Trinity Tripod. No. 8. Trinity College Press. p. 1. As a way to punish the destructive behavior of some inebriated students, Nardelli and McKee asked about bringing back, in some form, the Medusa program.
  11. ↑ Jamie Griffith (February 9, 1999). "Adult Treatment Requires Maturity From Students". The Trinity Tripod. No. 14. Trinity College Press. p. 3. "It would be useless for myself or anyone else in my year to attempt to set up a new Medusa.
  12. ↑ "Traditions". The Trinity Tripod. No. 29. Trinity College Press. February 21, 1971. p. 5.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.