Cap and Skull

Template:Short description Template:Infobox fraternity Cap and Skull is a co-educational senior honor society at Rutgers University in New Jersey. It was founded on January 18, 1900. Admission to Cap and Skull is dependent on excellence in academics, athletics, the arts, and public service. The organization considers leadership and character as factors for membership. Eighteen members are selected each year.

History

On January 18, 1900, ten members of the senior class of Rutgers College met in the Chi Psi lodge to form Cap and Skull.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite news</ref> Drawing inspiration from Skull and Bones and Quill and Dagger, Yale and Cornell's senior class honor societies, Cap and Skull aimed to form a similar honor society at Rutgers.<ref name=":2" />

The ten founders drew up a constitution and adopted a code of secrecy and a motto. To ensure the exclusivity of the organization, the selection of a new member required a unanimous vote of the current members. In the first two decades, no more than 80 men joined the organization.<ref name=":2" />

In the 1920s, the society began to reexamine its selection criteria to increase membership. Under the new system, each leadership position and honor on campus was awarded a point value, and students with the highest cumulative value were selected for induction.<ref name=":2" /> In 1923, in response to the growing student body, the number of members to be tapped each year was fixed at twelve and a tri-fold criterion for selection was established:<ref name=":2" />

1. Activities, athletic, and campus
2. Scholarship
3. Character and service to Rutgers

With the onset of World War II, many members of the Rutgers community left college to serve in the military. Only ten members were selected for Cap and Skull in 1944, and no one was tapped in 1945.<ref name=":2" /> In October 1945, members of the administration who were also Cap and Skull members were asked to make nominations for the class of 1946.<ref name=":2" />

Cap and Skull resumed the traditional twelve-member selection in 1948.<ref name=":2" /> On January 31, 1950, an all-day gala celebration was held in honor of Cap and Skull's golden anniversary—the first of the ten-year reunions that are still held today.<ref name=":2" /> The golden anniversary celebrated the 440 men selected as members of the society during those first fifty years.<ref name=":2" />

Demise and rebirth

Through the 1960s, sweeping social changes occurred and organizations such as Cap and Skull came under scrutiny. In 1969, Cap and Skull graduated its last class.<ref name=":2" /> Its alumni retained their ties and the underlying need for the organization remained. In 1981, Rutgers College students again discussed the need for an organization or honor that would recognize leadership contributions made by members of the senior class. Cap and Skull re-emerged in 1982, and a reunion was held to celebrate the tapping of new members.<ref name=":2" />

In November 1990, the Cap and Skull Room was formally leased, solidifying Cap and Skull's physical presence on campus.<ref name=":2" /> In 2000, a large gala event was held for the 100th anniversary of Cap and Skull and members endowed an annual scholarship to Rutgers students. Author William B. Brahms, a society member, compiled a detailed history with full biographies of all inducted members of the first 100 years. It was privately printed by the society, but is available at the Rutgers University Special Collections and Archives.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>

Symbols

The motto of Cap and Skull is Spectemur agendo or "Let us be judged by our actions".<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Its pillars are Spirit, History, and Tradition.<ref name=":0" />

Membership

Today, Cap and Skull represents many of the diverse organizations on campus and is now composed of undergraduate students from any of the university's reorganized schools. Formerly only members of Rutgers College (which had become co-educational in 1972) and Rutgers College affiliates from the School of Pharmacy, Engineering, and Mason Gross School of the Arts were tapped.

Admission to Cap and Skull is dependent on excellence in academics, athletics, the arts, and public service. The organization considers leadership and character as factors for membership. Using these criteria, only eighteen new members are selected each year.

Notable members

Following are some of the notable members of Cap and Skull.

Name	Initiation	Notability	Reference
Richard H. Askin	1969	CEO of Tribune Entertainment and president of Samuel Goldwyn Television	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Al Aronowitz	1959	Writer and friend of Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Amiri Baraka, and George Harrison	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Jay M. Bernhardt	1991	President of Emerson College	<ref name=":1" />
Samuel G. Blackman	1927	Editor with the Associated Press and reporter who broke the Lindbergh kidnapping story	<ref name=":1" /><ref>"Samuel G. Blackman; News Executive, 90" (obit), The New York Times, October 8, 1995.</ref>
William B. Brahms	1989	Librarian, encyclopedist, author, and historian	<ref name=":1" />
John J. Byrne	1954	Chairman and GEO of GEICO and chairman and CEO of White Mountains Insurance Group	<ref name=":1" />
Clifford P. Case	1925	United States Senate	<ref name=":1" />
Jay Chiat	1953	Founder of TBWA\Chiat\Day advertising agency	<ref name=":1" />
Harry Cicma	2004	Tennis player and sports anchor	<ref name=":1" />
Stanley Norman Cohen	1956	Pioneer of gene splicing	<ref name=":1" />
Robert Cooke	1900	First researcher to identify antihistamines	<ref name=":1" />
James Dale	1993	Gay rights activist, and litigant in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale	<ref name=":1" />
Homer Hazel	1925	All-American football player and member of the College Football Hall of Fame	<ref name=":1" /><ref>[[[:Template:College Football HoF/url]] "Homer Hazel" at The College Football Hall of Fame] Accessed August 22, 2008.</ref>
Alfred Ellet Hitchner	1904	Football player and coach,	<ref name=":1" />
Franklyn A, Johnson	1947	President of Jacksonville University and Southwest Florida College	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Robert E. Kelley	1956	Youngest lieutenant general in US Air Force history; superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy	<ref name=":1" />
Herbert Klein	1951	United States House of Representatives	<ref name=":1" />
Norman M. Ledgin	1950	Journalist and author	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Robert E. Lloyd	1967	Professional basketball player with the New York Nets	<ref name=":1" />
T. David Mazzarella	1962	Editor of USA Today and president of Gannett International	<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Anne Milgram	1992	Attorney general of New Jersey	<ref name=":1" />
Charles Molnar	1956	Inventor of the personal computer	<ref name=":1" />
David A. Morse	1929	Director-general of International Labour Organization who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969 on behalf of the ILO	<ref name=":1" />
Robert Nash	1916	First player traded in the National Football League and the first captain of the New York Giants	<ref name=":1" />
Ozzie Nelson	1927	Actor known for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	<ref name=":1" />
Richard Newcomb	1936	Author	<ref name=":1" />
Randal Pinkett	1993	President and CEO of BCT Partners and winner of The Apprentice 4	<ref name=":1" /><ref>BCT Partners Accessed August 22, 2008.</ref>
Rebecca Quick	1993	Anchor for CNBC Squawk Box	<ref name=":1" />
Rey Ramsey	1982	Social justice entrepreneur	<ref name=":1" />
Roland Renne	1927	President of Montana State University-Bozeman	<ref name=":1" />
Paul Robeson	1919	Bass-baritone concert artist, actor, and professional football player	<ref name=":1" /><ref>[[[:Template:College Football HoF/url]] "Paul Robeson" at The College Football Hall of Fame], Accessed August 22, 2008.</ref><ref name="auto"/>
Austin Wakeman Scott	1903	Professor at Harvard Law School	<ref name=":1" />
John Scudder	1923	Physician and research pioneer in the field of blood storage and replacement	<ref name=":1" />
Walter Spence	1934	Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Dick Standish	1964	Anchor and reporter on television and radio at KYW-TV in Philadelphia	<ref name=":1" />

See also

• Honor society
• Rutgers University student organizations
• Collegiate secret societies in North America

External links

• Template:Official website
• 1912 The New York Times article on Cap and Skull inductees for the year.