Editing Skull and Bones (section)

== History ==
===19th century===
Skull and Bones was founded in 1832 after a dispute among Yale debating societies [[Linonian Society|Linonia]], [[Brothers in Unity]], and the [[Calliopean Society]] over that season's [[Phi Beta Kappa]] awards.<ref name="nyt" /> [[William Huntington Russell]] and [[Alphonso Taft]] co-founded "The Order of the Skull and Bones".<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |date=September 13, 1903 |title=Change In Skull And Bones; Famous Yale Society Doubles Size of Its House&nbsp;– Addition a Duplicate of Old Building |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/09/13/102434474.pdf |access-date=November 5, 2011}}</ref><ref name="Niarchos">{{cite news|url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/12/05/yales-secret-social-fabric/ |title=Yale's secret social fabric|author1-last=Niarchos|author1-first=Nicolas|author2-last=Zapana |author2-first=Victor |date=December 5, 2008|work=[[Yale Daily News]]|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The first senior members included Russell, Taft, and thirteen other members.<ref name="Richards">{{cite magazine |last=Richards |first=David |title=The Origins of the Tomb |magazine=[[Yale Alumni Magazine]] |date=May 2015 |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4072-the-origins-of-the-tomb |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> Alternative names for Skull and Bones are The Order, Order 322 and The Brotherhood of Death.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Blakely |first1=Rhys |title=John Kerry and the 'Brotherhood of Death' Yale secret society |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/john-kerry-and-the-brotherhood-of-death-yale-secret-society-qptddcjw7qk |access-date=June 22, 2019 |work=[[The Times]] |date=March 2, 2013 |language=en}}</ref>

The first extended description of Skull and Bones, published in 1871 by Lyman Bagg in his book ''Four Years at Yale'', noted that "the mystery now attending its existence forms the one great enigma which college gossip never tires of discussing."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_09/old_yale.html |title=How the Secret Societies Got That Way |issue=September/October 2004 |journal=Yale Alumni Magazine |last=Schiff |first=Judith Ann |access-date=November 5, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404050959/http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_09/old_yale.html |archive-date=April 4, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bagg |first=Lyman Hotchkiss |url=https://archive.org/details/fouryearsatyale00bagguoft |title=Four Years at Yale |publisher=New Haven, C.C. Chatfield & Co. |year=1871 |oclc=2007757}}</ref>

In a 1974 book, Brooks Mather Kelley attributed the interest in Yale senior societies to the fact that underclassmen members of then [[freshman]], [[Sophomore year|sophomore]], and [[Junior (education year)|junior]] class societies returned to campus the following years and could share information about society rituals, while graduating seniors were, with their knowledge of such, at least a step removed from campus life.<ref>''Yale: A History'', Brooks Mather Kelley, (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, Ltd.), 1974.</ref>

Since its founding, Skull and Bones annually selects 15 junior class members to join the society.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hn4g6y?urlappend=%3Bseq=270%3Bownerid=27021597765435927-288 |title=American College Fraternities |publisher=Frank Williams |year=1883 |editor-last=Baird |editor-first=Wm. Raimond |edition=2nd |location=New York |page=196 |hdl=2027/hvd.hn4g6y?urlappend=%3Bseq=270 |language=en |via=Hathi Trust}}</ref> Skull and Bones selects new members among students every spring as part of Yale University's "Tap Day", and has done so since 1879. It taps those it views as campus leaders and other notable figures for its membership.

===20th century===
In the 1960s, secret societies adapted in response to criticism for elitism and discrimination. Skull and Bones admitted its first black member in 1965, and the president of Yale's gay student organization in 1975.<ref name="Horowitch">{{cite news |last1=Horowitch |first1=Rose |title=Skull and Bones and Equity and Inclusion |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/yale-skull-and-bones-secret-societies-diversity/677030/ |access-date=12 January 2024 |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=2024-01-11}}</ref>

Yale became [[Mixed-sex education|coeducational]] in 1969, prompting some other secret societies such as [[St. Anthony Hall]] to transition to co-ed membership, yet Skull and Bones remained fully male until 1992. The Bones class of 1971's attempt to tap women for membership was opposed by Bones alumni, who dubbed them the "bad club" and quashed their attempt. "The issue", as it came to be called by Bonesmen, was debated for decades.<ref>Robbins, pp. 152–159</ref>

The class of 1991 tapped seven female members for membership in the next year's class, causing conflict with the alumni association.<ref name="cedotal">Andrew Cedotal, [http://yaledailynews.com/magazine/2006/04/18/rattling-those-dry-bones/ Rattling those dry bones], ''Yale Daily News'', April 18, 2006.</ref> The trust changed the locks on the Tomb and the Bonesmen instead met in the [[Manuscript Society]] building.<ref name="cedotal" /> A mail-in vote by members decided 368–320 to permit women in the society, but a group of alumni led by [[William F. Buckley]] obtained a [[temporary restraining order]] to block the move, arguing that a formal change in bylaws was needed.<ref name="cedotal" /><ref>{{cite news |date=September 6, 1991 |title=Yale Alumni Block Women in Secret Club |work=[[New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE6DE1738F935A3575AC0A967958260 |access-date=February 28, 2009}}</ref> Other alumni, such as [[John Kerry]] and [[R. Inslee Clark, Jr.]], spoke out in favor of admitting women. The dispute was highlighted on an editorial page of ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref name="cedotal" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Semple |first=Robert B. Jr. |date=April 18, 1991 |title=High Noon on High Street |work=[[New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD7153CF93BA25757C0A967958260&sec=&spon= |access-date=February 28, 2009}}</ref> A second alumni vote, in October 1991, agreed to accept the Class of 1992, and the lawsuit was dropped.<ref name="cedotal" /><ref name="hevesi">{{cite news |last=Hevesi |first=Dennis |date=October 26, 1991 |title=Shh! Yale's Skull and Bones Admits Women |work=[[New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DB1130F935A15753C1A967958260&scp=1&sq=skull%20bones%20women&st=cse |access-date=February 28, 2009}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Leuing |first=Rebecca |date=2003-10-02 |title=Skull And Bones |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/skull-and-bones/ |access-date=2023-07-01 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}</ref>

===21st century===
In recent years, Skull and Bones, like other elite Yale institutions, "utterly transformed", according to ''[[The Atlantic]]''. The society tapped its first entirely non-white class in 2020. Few descendants of alumni get in, and progressive activism is an asset. The class of 2021 admitted no conservatives.<ref name="Horowitch" />