Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James Buchanan Duke established The Duke Endowment and the institution changed its name to honor his deceased father, Washington Duke.
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 Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity. Specifically, the association was founded "to mark in a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as students in engineering, or by their attainments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges".
Delta Delta Delta (ΔΔΔ), also known as Tri Delta, is a global women's fraternity and Greek life organization founded on November 27, 1888 at Boston University by Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan Breed, and Florence Isabelle Stewart.
Douglas Maitland Knight was an American educator, businessman, and author. He was a former professor of literature at Yale University prior to his presidency at Lawrence College from 1954 to 1963. Stemming from his work at Lawrence College was his subsequent term as president of Duke University, where he served until he resigned in 1969 following student protests and the takeover of the university's main administrative building by students calling for a black cultural center and African-American studies program, among other things. Controversy over these issues led to his transition into the business world at RCA and Questar Corporation. Knight never fully retired, and was known to consult for Questar's Board of Trustees years after his departure.
Cornelliana is anything related to Cornell University, an Ivy League university founded in 1865 in Ithaca, New York. The university has a considerable number of traditions, legends, and lore unique to the university that have developed over its existence, which spans over 150 years.
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 December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, by 15 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.
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.
William Preston Few was the first president of Duke University and the fifth president of its predecessor, Trinity College.
John Carlisle Kilgo served as a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) from 1910 to 1922. From 1894 to 1910, Kilgo was the president of Trinity College, in Durham, North Carolina, the predecessor of Duke University. Earlier, Kilgo was a circuit preacher in South Carolina and a financial agent of Wofford College.
The Senior Skull Society is an American collegiate senior honor society at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. Membership in the society is "the highest all-inclusive honor" at the university.
The Cadaver Society is a secret society for male students at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1957.
Duke University Libraries is the library system of Duke University, serving the university's students and faculty. The Libraries collectively hold some 6 million volumes.
The Sigma Society is a secret senior society at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Founded around 1880, it is the oldest society in operation at the university.
Alice Mary Baldwin was an American historian and educator, noted as the Dean of the Woman's College of Duke University from 1923 until her retirement in 1947.
Immediately following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the Silent Vigil was a social protest at Duke University that not only demanded collective bargaining rights for AFSCME Local 77, the labor union for nonacademic employees, but also advocated against racial discrimination on campus and in the surrounding community of Durham, North Carolina. Occurring from April 4, 1968, to April 12, 1968, members of the University Christian Movement began planning a campus-wide vigil in memoriam of Dr. King. Another group of undergraduate students called for a protest march to address prevalent issues concerning the primarily African-American nonacademic employees at Duke in Local 77. Together, both student groups, along with the support of Local 77, most of the teaching faculty, and civilians not affiliated with the university, sparked a non-violent demonstration that involved over 2,000 participants, making it the largest in Duke's history. The Silent Vigil stands out from other contemporary college movements due to the collaboration between primarily white students and faculty, and mainly African-American workers. Furthermore, unlike rowdier protests at the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, Duke's Silent Vigil received considerable praise for its peaceful approach, especially considering its surrounding Southern backdrop. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, the Silent Vigil not only aimed to externally change Duke's white, privileged, and apathetic image in the eyes of the Durham community, but also internally set a powerful precedent on Duke's campus for student activism in the future.
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at North American colleges and universities. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept graduate students as well. Individual fraternities and sororities vary in organization and purpose, but most share five common elements:
- Secrecy
- Single-sex membership
- Selection of new members on the basis of a two-part vetting and probationary process known as rushing and pledging
- Ownership and occupancy of a residential property where undergraduate members live
- A set of complex identification symbols that may include Greek letters, armorial achievements, ciphers, badges, grips, hand signs, passwords, flowers, and colors
West Campus is part of Duke University's campus in Durham, North Carolina. West Campus, along with East Campus, make up most of Duke's main campus. The campus follows the Collegiate Gothic architecture style, inspired by the mid-18th century Gothic Revival style, making it distinct from East Campus. This was in a similar set-up as Cornell University's West Campus built a decade prior.
The Douglas M. and Grace Knight House, also known as Knight House, is a Modernist-style mansion in Durham, North Carolina. The house, designed by Alden B. Dow, previously served as the official residence for presidents of Duke University and is now used by the university as an event space, conference facility, and guest house. On April 6, 1968, four-hundred and fifty university students marched to the house during the Silent Vigil at Duke University. The house, previously called University House, was officially named after Douglas Knight and Grace Nicholas Knight in 2003.
