Editing Secret society (section)

== Realms ==

===Politics===
Because some secret societies have [[Politics|political]] aims, they are illegal in several countries. [[Italy]] ([[Constitution of Italy#Civil Relations .28Articles 13-28.29|Constitution of Italy, Section 2, Articles 13–28]]) and [[Poland]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Constitution of the Republic of Poland|date=2 April 1997|url=http://sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm|quote=Article 13: Political parties and other organizations whose programs are based upon totalitarian methods and the modes of activity of nazism, fascism and communism, as well as those whose programs or activities sanction racial or national hatred, the application of violence for the purpose of obtaining power or to influence the State policy, or provide for the secrecy of their own structure or membership, shall be prohibited.|access-date=3 November 2009|archive-date=20 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420173446/http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> for example, ban secret political parties and [[Political organisation|political organizations]] in their [[Constitution of Poland|constitutions]].

===Colleges and universities===
{{See also|Collegiate secret societies in North America}}
Many [[collegiate secret societies|student societies]] established on university campuses in the United States have been considered secret societies. Perhaps one of the most famous secret collegiate societies is [[Skull and Bones]] at [[Yale University]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Skull And Bones |url=http://thesecretbookgarden.com/skull-and-bones/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419013022/http://thesecretbookgarden.com/skull-and-bones/ |archive-date=19 April 2020 |access-date=11 May 2012 |work=The Secret Society Manual |publisher=thesecretbookgarden.com}}</ref> The influence of undergraduate secret societies at colleges such as [[Harvard College]], [[Cornell University]], [[Florida State University]], [[Dartmouth College]], [[Emory University]], the [[University of Chicago]],<ref>{{cite journal |title=To The Members of the University of Chicago |journal=The University of Chicago Magazine |date=July 1913 |volume=5 |issue=9 |page=298 |url=https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=rGw9AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1 |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=30 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930191457/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=rGw9AAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[University of Virginia]], [[Georgetown University]], [[New York University]],<ref>{{cite web |title= Edgar Allan Poe in Greenwich Village |url= https://greenwichvillagehistory.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/edgar-allan-poe-in-greenwich-village/ |work= Researching Greenwich Village History |publisher= greenwichvillagehistory.wordpress.com |access-date= 11 May 2012 |author= Megan Findling |format= article |date= 3 November 2011 |archive-date= 20 February 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160220081502/https://greenwichvillagehistory.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/edgar-allan-poe-in-greenwich-village/ |url-status= live }}</ref> and [[Wellesley College]] has been publicly acknowledged, if [[Anonymity|anonymously]] and circumspectly, since the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1885/11/5/secret-societies-notable-among-the-features/|title=Secret Societies. &#124; News &#124; The Harvard Crimson|website=www.thecrimson.com|access-date=18 September 2021|archive-date=18 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918170558/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1885/11/5/secret-societies-notable-among-the-features/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title= Student Government at Wellesley and How It Makes for Loyalty among the College Girls and Faculty |newspaper= The New York Times |date= 12 February 1912 |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40712FD385E13738DDDAC0A94DA405B828DF1D3 |access-date= 12 February 2017 |archive-date= 11 November 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121111123737/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40712FD385E13738DDDAC0A94DA405B828DF1D3 |url-status= live }}</ref>

[[British universities]] have a long history of secret societies or quasi-secret clubs, such as [[Pitt Club|The Pitt Club]] at [[Cambridge University]],<ref name="varsity">{{Cite news |first= Mary |last= Bowers |title= Pitt Club under pressure from Council |url= http://www.varsity.co.uk/archive/647.pdf |work= Varsity |page= 5 |date= 17 November 2006 |access-date= 20 August 2009 |archive-date= 26 September 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070926121512/http://www.varsity.co.uk/archive/647.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name="bully"/> [[Bullingdon Club]] at [[Oxford University]],<ref name="bully">{{Cite news |first=Kirsty |last=Gray |title=Oxford's Bully-ingdon Club faces more scandal |url=http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/3318 |newspaper=Varsity |date=11 February 2011 |access-date=25 June 2011 |archive-date=27 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127175121/http://www.varsity.co.uk/news/3318 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Kate Kennedy Club]], [[The Kensington Club]] and the [[Praetorian Club]] at the [[University of St Andrews]], and the [[The 16' Club|16' Club]] at [[University of Wales, Trinity Saint David|St David's College]].<ref>D.T.W. Price. ''A History of Saint David's University College, Lampeter''. University of Wales Press, Cardiff. Volume One, to 1898 ({{ISBN|0-7083-0606-3}})</ref> Another British secret society is the [[Cambridge Apostles]], founded as an essay and debating society in 1820. Not all British universities host solely academic secret societies; both [[The Night Climbers of Cambridge]] and [[The Night Climbers of Oxford]] require both brains and brawn.

In [[France]], [[Vandermonde]] is the secret society of the [[Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.espace-turing.fr/Naissance-de-Alexandre-Theophile.html |title= Naissance de " Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde ", mathématicien français – Espace " Sciences du Numérique " Alan Turing (LJAD – CNRS/UNS) |website= www.espace-turing.fr |access-date= 20 August 2017 |archive-date= 17 October 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171017021353/http://www.espace-turing.fr/Naissance-de-Alexandre-Theophile.html |url-status= live }}</ref>

Notable examples in [[Canada]] include [[Episkopon]] at the [[University of Toronto]]'s [[University of Trinity College|Trinity College]] and the [[The Society of Thoth|Society of Thoth]] at the [[University of British Columbia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Episkopon Policy |url=https://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/engage/policies/episkopon-policy/ |access-date=17 March 2025 |website=Trinity College |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ramsay |first=Bailey |date=2 May 2017 |title=The Society of Thoth: How The Ubyssey began as an actual cult |url=https://ubyssey.ca/humour/the-society-of-thoth-how-the-ubyssey-began-as-an-actual-cult/ |access-date=17 March 2025 |website=The Ubyssey |language=en}}</ref>

Secret societies are disallowed in a few colleges. The [[Virginia Military Institute]] has rules that no [[cadet]] may join a secret society,<ref>{{cite web |title= Regulations for the Virginia Military Institute, Part II, Revised 5 December 2008, 12–16(b) |url= http://www.vmi.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=13639 |publisher= vmi.edu }}</ref> and secret societies have been banned at [[Oberlin College]] from 1847<ref>{{cite book |last= Fletcher |first= Robert Samuel |title= A History of Oberlin College from Its Foundation Through the Civil War |publisher= Oberlin College |year= 1943 |url= http://www.gospeltruth.net/oberlinhistory.htm#41 |access-date= 10 April 2012 |archive-date= 14 August 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190814192255/http://www.gospeltruth.net/oberlinhistory.htm#41 |url-status= live }} "Revised codes were issued every few years, but not many important changes were made in them. Provisions with regard to the hours of 'athletic exercises and sport' were added in 1847. In the same revision, there appeared for the first time the 'peculiar' Oberlin rule against secret societies. 'No student,' it runs, 'is permitted to join any secret society or military company.'"</ref> to the present,<ref>{{cite book |url=http://new.oberlin.edu/students/policies/2011-2012/0-OberlinRulesRegs2011_12.pdf |title=Student Regulations, Policies, and Procedures, Oberlin College 2011–2012 |date=2011 |publisher=Oberlin College |page=34 |language=en |access-date=10 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326214411/http://new.oberlin.edu/students/policies/2011-2012/0-OberlinRulesRegs2011_12.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2013 |url-status=dead}}  "No secret society is allowed at Oberlin, and no other societies or self-perpetuating organizations are allowed among students, except by permission of the faculty. This is to be understood to include social and rooming-house clubs."</ref> and at [[Princeton University]] since the beginning of the 20th century.

[[Confraternities in Nigeria]] are secret-society-like student groups within [[higher education]], some of which have histories of violence and [[organized crime]]. The exact death toll from confraternity activities is unclear. One estimate in 2002 was that 250 people had been killed in campus cult-related murders in the previous decade,<ref name=irin>[http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=33251 "NIGERIA: Focus on the menace of student cults"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611185212/http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=33251 |date=11 June 2011 }}, ''[[The New Humanitarian|IRIN]]'', 1 August 2002</ref> while the Exam Ethics Project lobby group estimated that 115 students and teachers had been killed between 1993 and 2003.<ref name=cults>[http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11849078 "Cults of violence"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081021130746/http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11849078 |date=21 October 2008 }}, ''[[The Economist]]'', 31 July 2008</ref>

The Mandatory Monday Association is thought to operate out of a variety of [[Australia|Australian]] universities including the [[Australian Defence Force Academy]]. The Association has numerous chapters that meet only on Mondays to discuss business and carry out rituals.<ref>{{Citation|chapter=IV. The Secret Societies|date=31 December 1969|pages=58–132|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=9780231887458|doi=10.7312/fort92186-004|title=Omaha Secret Societies}}</ref>

The only secret society abolished and then legalized is that of The [[Philomaths]],<ref>Arthur Morius Francis. ''Secret Societies''. Vol. 3: The Collegiate Secret Societies of America. 2015 (file pdf).</ref> which is now a legitimate academic association founded on a strict selection of its members.

===Internet===
While their existence had been speculated for years, [[Internet]]-based secret societies first became known to the public in 2012 when [[Cicada 3301]] began recruiting from the public via Internet-based puzzles.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bell |first1=Chris |title= The internet mystery that has the world baffled |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10468112/The-internet-mystery-that-has-the-world-baffled.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10468112/The-internet-mystery-that-has-the-world-baffled.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date= 23 July 2014 |newspaper= Daily Telegraph |date= 25 November 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1= Ernst |first1= Douglas |title= Secret society seeks world's brightest: Recruits navigate 'darknet' filled with terrorism, drugs |url= http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/26/secret-society-seeks-worlds-smartest-cicada-3301-r/ |access-date= 23 July 2014 |newspaper= The Washington Times |date= 26 November 2013 |archive-date= 25 September 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150925204905/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/26/secret-society-seeks-worlds-smartest-cicada-3301-r/ |url-status= live }}</ref> The goals of the society remain unknown, but it is believed to be involved in [[cryptography]].<ref>{{cite news |author= NPR staff |title= The Internet's Cicada: A Mystery without an Answer |url= https://www.npr.org/2014/01/05/259959632/the-internets-cicada-a-mystery-without-an-answer |access-date= 13 May 2014 |newspaper= All Things Considered, National Public Radio |date= 5 January 2014 |archive-date= 27 June 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180627144945/https://www.npr.org/2014/01/05/259959632/the-internets-cicada-a-mystery-without-an-answer |url-status= live }}</ref><ref name=metro>{{cite news |last= Scott |first= Sam |title= Cicada 3301: The most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age |url= http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/16/cicada-3301-the-most-elaborate-and-mysterious-puzzle-of-the-internet-age-4229892/ |access-date= 16 December 2013 |newspaper= Metro |date= 16 December 2013 |archive-date= 12 June 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180612162252/https://metro.co.uk/2013/12/16/cicada-3301-the-most-elaborate-and-mysterious-puzzle-of-the-internet-age-4229892/ |url-status= live }}</ref>