honor society
In the United States, an honor society is a rank organization that recognizes excellence among peers. Numerous societies recognize various fields and circumstances. The Order of the Arrow, for example, is the National Honor Society of the Boy Sc ...
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
as factors for membership. Using these criteria, only 18 new members were selected each year.
History
On January 18, 1900, 10 members of the senior class of Rutgers College assembled in the Chi Psi Lodge to form the Cap and Skull organization. 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 Rutgers honor society.
The 10 founders drew up a Cap and Skull constitution and adopted a code of secrecy and the motto, '' Spectemur agendo''. To ensure the exclusivity of the organization, 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.
First World War
The 1920s found the college recovering from the First World War, and the Skulls began to reexamine their selection criteria to increase membership. Under the new system, each leadership position and honor on campus was awarded a points value, and students with the highest cumulative value were selected for induction into Cap and Skull. In 1923, in response to the growing student body, the number of members to be tapped each year was fixed at 12 and a tri-fold criteria for selection was established.
# Activities, athletic and campus
# Scholarship
# Character and service to Rutgers
Second World War
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 in 1944, and no one was tapped in 1945. In October 1945, members of the administration who were also Cap and Skull members were asked to make nominations for the class of 1946. Cap and Skull resumed the traditional 12-member selection in 1948.
50 year anniversary
On January 31, 1950, an all-day gala celebration was held in honor of Cap and Skull's golden anniversary – the first of the 10-year reunions that are still held today. The golden anniversary celebrated the 440 men selected as members of the society during those first 50 years.
Demise and rebirth
Through the 1960s, sweeping social changes occurred. Organizations such as Cap and Skull, came under scrutiny. In 1969, Cap and Skull graduated its last class.
Though Cap and Skull ended in 1969, the alumni of Cap and Skull 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.
Centennial 2000
In 2000, the 100th anniversary of Cap and Skull, a large gala event was held and members donated a large endowment for an annual scholarship to Rutgers students. Also in connection with the centennial, a web site was launched and author
William B. Brahms
William Bernard Brahms (born October 1, 1966) is an American librarian, encyclopedist, author and historian best known for his encyclopedic works on historical "lasts" (as opposed to "firsts"), in particular, the reference works ''Notable Last Fa ...
, 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. The history presented here is from Brahms' research.
Current status
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.
In November 1990, the Cap and Skull Room was formally leased, solidifying Cap and Skull's physical presence on campus. The appointed room features old photographs and several display cases filled with Cap and Skull memorabilia.
Al Aronowitz
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Early life and education
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- writer, influential behind-the-scenes 1960s culture-broker, friend of Ginsberg,
Jack Kerouac
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Of French-Canadian a ...
,
Neal Cassady
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,
Amiri Baraka
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and
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
* Walter W. Austin - CEO of Raleigh Bicycle Company
* Samuel G. Blackman - first reporter to break the Lindbergh kidnapping story. Held top news-editing position with the Associated Press
* John Joseph "Jack" Byrne Jr. - chairman and GEO of
GEICO
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, which he pulled from the brink of insolvency in the mid-1970s, later served as chairman and CEO of White Mountains Insurance Group, formerly (Fund American Enterprises, Inc.), chairman of the board of Overstock.com 2005-06
*
Clifford P. Case
Clifford Philip Case Jr. (April 16, 1904March 5, 1982), was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1945–1953) and a U.S. Senator (1955–1979) from New Jersey. He is currently ...
Jay Chiat
Jay Chiat (October 25, 1931 – April 23, 2002) started his career as an American advertising copywriter.
Biography
Chiat was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx in New York City and grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers ...
Stanley N. Cohen
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Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
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''
* Richard M. Hale, founder, CEO and chairman of Halecrest, major supporter of Rutgers Scarlet Knights, namesake of the Hale Center Football Complex at Rutgers
*
Homer Hazel
Homer Howard "Pop" Hazel (June 2, 1895 – February 3, 1968) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Rutgers University in 1916 and again from 1923 to 1924. Considered an outstanding punter, kicker, and passer, he ...
"Pop Hazel" - All-American football star and member of the
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
* William Arthur "Billy" Hillpot - radio comedian, singer. Half of "Hillpot and Lambert" with Harold Scrappy Lambert a.k.a. "The Smith Brothers", vocalist on the 1927 hit "Ain't She Sweet" recorded under Ben Bernie.
* Franklyn A. Johnson - president of three universities, including Jacksonville University
*
Robert E. Kelley
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Early life and educati ...
swimming at the 1928 Summer Olympics
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* Norman M. Ledgin - journalist, author, ''Diagnosing Jefferson''; ''Asperger's and Self-Esteem''; ''The Jayhawker''.
* Robert E. Lloyd - professional basketball player with the New York Nets, CEO Mindscape, chairman of the V Foundation for cancer research, which honors the memory of his former Rutgers backcourt teammate, Jim " Jimmy V" Valvano
* T. David Mazzarella - editor of '' USA Today'', president of
Gannett
Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Anne Milgram - attorney general of New Jersey and first assistant attorney general of New Jersey
* Charles Molnar - inventor of the personal computer—LINC (acknowledged as the 1st personal computer by IEEE)
*
David A. Morse
David Abner Morse, né David Abner Moscovitz (31 May 1907 – 1 December 1990) was an American bureaucrat who headed the International Labour Organization.
Background
Born David Abner Moscovitz in New York on May 31, 1907, Morse graduated fr ...
- director-general of ILO who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969 on behalf of the ILO
* Robert Nash, "Nasty Nash" - the first football player traded in the
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
and the first captain of the
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Richard Newcomb
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- best-selling author of ''Iwo Jima!'' , ''Abandon Ship!'' and other works.
* Randal Pinkett - president and CEO of BCT Partners, winner of ''The Apprentice'' 4
* Rebecca Quick - anchor for CNBC Squawk Box, played a crucial role in launch of ''The Wall Street Journal'' online.
*
Rey Ramsey
Rey Ramsey is an American social justice entrepreneur, author, and the former CEO of the One Economy Corporation, a nonprofit he co-founded in 2000.
Ramsey received a B.A. in political science from Rutgers University, where he was a member of Cap ...
- American social justice entrepreneur, author. CEO of One Economy, a multi-national nonprofit that brings broadband to low-income homes and provides a multilingual web portal called The Beehive, which has over 9 million users.
* Roland Renne - president of
Montana State University-Bozeman
Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fiel ...
for 21 years.
* Paul Robeson - singer, lawyer, athlete, actor, activist, member of the
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The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
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Joseph Siry
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- NASA chief scientist
* Walter Spence - member of International Swimming Hall of Fame. In his first year of competitive swimming (1925), he broke five world records.
*
Dick Standish Dick Standish (born August 26, 1942) is an American journalist. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Rutgers University–New Brunswick in 1964. He was elected to the senior honor society, Cap and Skull, and served as News Director ...
- anchor and reporter on television and radio at
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Batodonoides vanhouteni
''Batodonoides vanhouteni'' is an extinct shrew-like mammal, thought to be the smallest mammal that ever lived, as well as the smallest synapsid that ever lived. Based on the size of its molar teeth, it is estimated that ''Batodonoides vanhoute ...