The Pundits

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The Pundits
Updated Logo for The Pundits.png
Pundits Seal, 1884
Founded1884
Yale University
TypeSenior secret society
ScopeLocal
Chapters1
Headquarters New Haven , Connecticut
United States

The Pundits are an undergraduate senior secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest societies at Yale, often referred to as the "fourth of the big three." The Pundits were founded in 1884 as a society of "campus wits," and have a tradition of rebelling against Yale tradition, often through elaborate pranks. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

The society is known for hosting naked parties and socials, which the group moderates to make sure they remain safe spaces for the individuals attending. The nudity is described as an experiment in social interaction, and any sexual behavior is prohibited at the parties. [5] [2] [6] The society is also known for allegedly organizing naked runs through the various libraries of Yale. [7] [8]

Founding and History

The founder of the Pundits, as an undergraduate at Yale, was the illustrious William Lyon Phelps (1865-1943). Phelps went on to become essentially the leading humanities scholar in the United States in his day, and an enormously admired professor at Yale. Phelps was the original prototype of the star professor, whose lectures were considered so witty, so brilliant, and entertaining, that attendance at his course became known as a not-to-be-missed feature of the Yale undergraduate experience. [9]

Pundits' full logo Updated Full Logo for The Pundits.png
Pundits' full logo

The Pundits doubtless did not originally hold naked parties but contented themselves with assembling the wittiest and most brilliant members of the senior class for a weekly dinner and participating in a series of elaborate pranks and lampoons intended to deflate pomposity and pretension among the student body. [8] [9]

The society has gained a reputation as "Yale's Merry Pranksters," and has been referred to as "the Antithesis of Skull of Bones." [10] There is a rumor that they possess a secret island located between mainland Canada and the United States, which they use as a hide-out when fleeing the publicity caused by their pranks.[ citation needed ]

A different version of the Pundits logo, from the Yale Manuscripts and Archives Library Pundits Sanguinista-Movement-Parody Logo.png
A different version of the Pundits logo, from the Yale Manuscripts and Archives Library

The society accrued many names during its time, including "The United People's Front of La Pundita." [10] Speculation exists that the contemporary use of the term "pundit" may have its origins with the Pundits, which developed a reputation for including among its members the school's most incisive and humorous critics of contemporary society. The group's late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century focus on lampooning the social and political world was well-documented in the university's yearbook and the Yale Daily News , the entries of which are considered among the first use of the term "pundit" to refer to a critic of or expert on contemporary matters. [11] [9]

The Pundits select new members among Yale's students every spring, outside of Yale University's normal senior "Tap Day" process. The society values diversity and respect in recruiting its new membership, selecting students who it believes embody its values of love, affection, humor, political commentary, nudity, absurdity, and body positivity.

Alumni

Several members of the society have also gone on to become leading political pundits, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author and energy expert Daniel Yergin, and the 68th United States Secretary of State John Kerry. Other notable Yale Pundits include Alfred Whitney Griswold, Lewis H. Lapham and Joe Lieberman. [11] [9]

Related Research Articles

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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. It is one of the "Big Three" societies at Yale, the other two being Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head. The society is known informally as "Bones," and members are known as "Bonesmen," "Members of The Order" or "Initiated to The Order."

The Merry Pranksters were followers of American author Ken Kesey. Kesey and the Merry Pranksters lived communally at Kesey's homes in California and Oregon, and are noted for the sociological significance of a lengthy road trip they took in the summer of 1964, traveling across the United States in a psychedelic painted school bus called Furthur, organizing parties, and giving out LSD. During this time they met many of the guiding lights of the 1960s cultural movement and presaged what are commonly thought of as hippies with odd behavior, tie-dyed and red, white, and blue clothing, and renunciation of normal society, which they dubbed The Establishment. Tom Wolfe chronicled their early escapades in his 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and documents a 1966 trip on Furthur from Mexico through Houston, stopping to visit Kesey's friend the novelist Larry McMurtry. Kesey was in flight from a drug charge at the time.

<i>Furthur</i> (bus) Ken Keseys Merry Band of Pranksters 1960s hippie-bus

Furthur is a 1939 International Harvester school bus purchased by author Ken Kesey in 1964 to carry his "Merry Band of Pranksters" cross-country, filming their counterculture adventures as they went. The bus featured prominently in Tom Wolfe's 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test but, due to the chaos of the trip and editing difficulties, footage of the journey was not released as a film until the 2011 documentary Magic Trip.

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

The Scroll and Key Society is a secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest Yale secret societies and reputedly the wealthiest. The society is one of the reputed "Big Three" societies at Yale, along with Skull and Bones and Wolf's Head. Each spring the society admits fifteen rising seniors to participate in its activities and carry on its traditions.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Lyon Phelps</span> Author, radio host and scholar from USA

William Lyon Phelps was an American author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American university course on the modern novel. He had a radio show, wrote a daily syndicated newspaper column, lectured frequently, and published numerous books and articles.

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Brothers in Unity is an undergraduate literary and debating society at Yale University. Founded in 1768 as a literary and debating society that encompassed nearly half the student body at its 19th-century peak, the group disbanded in the late 1870s after donating its collection of books to help form Yale's central library.

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Ken Babbs is a famous Merry Prankster who became one of the psychedelic leaders of the 1960s. He along with best friend and Prankster leader, Ken Kesey, wrote the book Last Go Round. Babbs is best known for his participation in the Acid Tests and on the bus Furthur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Harvard–Yale prank</span> American football prank

At the annual Harvard–Yale football game on November 20, 2004, Yale students, costumed as a Harvard "pep squad", distributed placards to Harvard fans for a card stunt. When the fans raised the placards together, they read "We Suck".

A naked party, also known as nude party, is a party where the participants are required to be nude. The parties have become associated with college campuses and with college-aged people; they gained prominence after naked parties were organized at Brown University and Yale University. While the roots of naked parties come from the nudism movements and campus streaking, the modern "naked party" movement appears to have its roots at Brown University in the 1980s. Attendees of naked parties often report that they stop feeling awkward after just a few minutes since everyone has disrobed before entering the party and since everyone's nudity is accepted, regardless of body type. According to reports, most naked college parties are sex-free. At Brown University, the nakedness is "more of an experiment in social interaction than a sexual experience".

Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is reputedly the arts and letters society at Yale.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude recreation</span> Leisure activity while naked

Nude recreation consists of recreational activities which some people engage in while nude. Historically, the ancient Olympic Games were nude events. There remain some societies in Africa, Oceania, and South America that continue to engage in everyday public activities—including sports—without clothes, while in most of the world nude activities take place in either private spaces or separate clothing optional areas in public spaces. Occasional events, such as nude bike rides, may occur in public areas where nudity is not otherwise allowed.

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Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair and living in hospitable climates. As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person's social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts, being associated with nursing babies more than with sexuality.

A media prank is a type of media event, perpetrated by staged speeches, activities, or press releases, designed to trick legitimate journalists into publishing erroneous or misleading articles. The term may also refer to such stories if planted by fake journalists, as well as the false story thereby published. A media prank is a form of culture jamming generally done as performance art or a practical joke for purposes of a humorous critique of mass media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurelian Honor Society</span> Secret society at Yale University, US

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James Linton is a social engineer and email prankster known for duping high-profile celebrities and politicians. For five months in 2016 through to 2017, the "lazy anarchist" known by the Twitter alias SINON_REBORN created over 150 look-alike email accounts and emailed high-profile individuals in the political, financial, and entertainment industries from his iPhone 7.

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References

  1. "Fooling All The People All The Time | University Ventures Letters". universityventures.com. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  2. 1 2 Aviv, Rachel (December 5, 2008). "Black Tie Optional". New York Times . Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  3. "Yalies join forces to prank Gaddis' 'Cold War' lecture" . Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  4. "5 Best Harvard-Yale Pranks | The Boola". theboola.com. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  5. North, Anna. "The Collegiate Rites Of Naked Time, And The Adults Who Love It". Jezebel. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  6. "Yale Strips Down" . Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  7. "Fooling All The People All The Time | University Ventures Letters". universityventures.com. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  8. 1 2 Hartwig, compiled by Daniel; findingaids.feedback@yale.edu, File format. "Guide to the Pundits, Yale University, Records" . Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Zincavage, David. "Never Yet Melted » Yale Pundits Make the News". neveryetmelted.com. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  10. 1 2 "Yale's Merry Pranksters". tribunedigital-thecourant. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  11. 1 2 "Political Pundits". elearning.kctcs.edu. Retrieved 2018-04-21.