Editing Phi Beta Kappa (section)

===Latin letter fraternal societies===
Older fraternal societies existed at [[College of William & Mary]]. The F.H.C. Society (nicknamed "the [[Flat Hat Club]]"), founded in 1750, is the first collegiate secret society recorded in North America; unlike the newer Phi Beta Kappa, the F.H.C. was a Latin-letter society, its name taken from the initial letters of a Latin motto (perhaps {{lang|la|Fraternitas, Humanitas, Cognitioque}}).<ref name=DoG_Becca2004>
{{cite news |author=Millfield, Becca |date=November 2, 2004 |title=Shhh! The secret side to the college's lesser known societies |newspaper=The DoG Street Journal |quote=The [[College of William & Mary]]'s daily online |url=http://www.dogstreetjournal.com/story/2049 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928112053/http://www.dogstreetjournal.com/story/2049 |archive-date=September 28, 2011}}</ref>

A second Latin-letter fraternity at William & Mary, the P.D.A. Society, was publicly known as "Please Don't Ask".<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite report |first=Robert W. |last=Storm |year=1973 |title=In token of friendship: Early fraternity medals at the College of William & Mary |type=typed manuscript |series=University archives / Earl Gregg Swem Library |publisher=[[College of William & Mary]] |place=Williamsburg, VA}}</ref> [[John Heath (politician)|John Heath]], chief organizer of the Phi Beta Kappa, according to tradition earlier sought but was refused admission to the P.D.A., though he may instead have disdained to join it (much later, his friend and fellow student William Short wrote that the P.D.A. "had lost all reputation for letters, and was noted only for the dissipation & conviviality of its members").<ref name=Hastings/>{{rp|84}}