Cap and Skull
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. 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.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.
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. 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:
- Activities, athletic, and campus
- Scholarship
- Character and service to Rutgers
Cap and Skull resumed the traditional twelve-member selection in 1948. 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. The golden anniversary celebrated the 440 men selected as members of the society during those first fifty years.
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. 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.In November 1990, the Cap and Skull Room was formally leased, solidifying Cap and Skull's physical presence on campus. 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.
Symbols
The motto of Cap and Skull is Spectemur agendo or "Let us be judged by our actions". Its pillars are Spirit, History, and Tradition.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 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.