Black robes and blood

We are programmed to be obsessed with secrets. Big ones, small ones—we love them all. Sometimes, we even create our own secrets just to share them. In our childhood, the biggest secrets are those that are unsolved. Does he have cooties? Are there monsters under our beds? These secrets fueled our desire to form alliances and helped us become socialized.

In our teenage years, secrets became more vicious, more calculated. Secrets in high school are never supposed to remain secrets. They are supposed to be revealed in the most embarrassing way possible. The following approach is what I like to call “the lion pride”: A male of popular status is dating a female of equal status but has the opportunity to date above his status. He breaks up with the former female in the cafeteria to prove his worthiness of the latter female. Sounds pretty animalistic right? Cue a Ke$ha song.

What happens when we get to college is something drastically different than what we do in high school. We want to protect the secrets from our past, but we realize that it’s time to start protecting secrets from our present. We want to protect our secrets so badly that we risk our relationships with others. The ultimate secret is a secret society. Rumor has it that four operate on campus: Old Trinity Club, CI, LH, and TS. Those of us outside of the organizations have yet to figure out what the acronyms stand for, but that means that this secret is being kept very well.

What is the allure of secret societies? Former President George W. Bush and presidential hopeful John Kerry were both members of Yale’s Skull and Bones, perhaps the most famous secret society. It can be argued that these societies are able to use connections to catapult people to fame and success.

I disagree. Secret societies are meant to fill a void that many people feel in college: the need for honesty. Our college friends do not know us as well as our friends from back home do, and we try and portray an image of perfection all of the time. We admit our hopes and dreams but fail to talk about our fears. At a school like Duke, students have their resumes in their pockets ready to validate their existence because in the back of their minds they are longing for more substance and meaning in their relationships.

Yes, secret societies may be cool because they involved the cover of night, blood oaths, and creepy rituals (or pacing the quad on the last day of classes). But, their true appeal is as an outlet for the general student body’s imperfections. What are my imperfections? I have none. I got into Duke.