14 The Michigan Dlaily - Irir4ia, flw~mhtpr 11 1 OQR .LY FRIDI.'AY FocUs The members seldom disclose their affiliation and they keep business under wraps, shrouded in the shadows of the Michigan Union. The history of the Tower Society the Universit's version of the "secret" societies that inhabit campuses nationwide - is seldom openly iscussed. Outside scrutiny has challenged the group to make changes. Now, the society must make a decision that will change years of traditions. '4. Early origins Every few years, whispered rumors about the cam- pus' senior honor societies surface, causing a stir among members and arousing curiosity from all sec- tors of the University community about the groups and their practices. Each year, up to 50 campus leaders are invited to participate in the all-female Adara and all-male Michigamua. The members work together to foster friendships and serve the University and surrounding community. In the late 1970s, Michigamua was challenged to include women in its membership. Women's groups upset with the exclusion of females from the organiza- tion used Title IX, a law that enforces gender equity, to give strength to their argument. Adara spawned from the issue of female represen- tation and seemingly put an end to questions . But only a few years after the Tower Society - the umbrella organization including Adara and Michigamua - was formed in 1979, the groups fell under more scrutiny. Hushed acknowledgment It is humbleness and modesty that Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford said character- izes the Tower Society, which aims to bring students together. "They are supposed to take modesty as a value and are not supposed to brag about being in an organiza- tion," Hartford said. Michigamua and Adara members chose not to comment for this article. Copies of the Michiganensian yearbook docu- ment the pride of Michigamua and Adara mem- bers, with smiling faces of members peering out of the pages in pictures depicting them splashing each other with paint, leaning on trees outside of Angell Hall and posed in formal dress. Michigamua was founded in 1902 with the help of former University President James Angell and comprised of 25 male student leaders. Members included seniors who demonstrated high levels of leadership in campus activities. The Tribe of Michigamua, as it was then called, had an elite all-male membership and held its meetings in the top floor ofthe Michigan Union, stress- ing "friendship among the members and a better under- standing of their respective activities at the University of Michigan." But despite its carefully chosen members, it has never been officially considered a secret society. "Michigamua has never been listed as secret," Hartford said. Adara, formed officially in January 1980, stresses that its women serve as strong leaders in the campus community. Members of the collective Tower Society are mem- bers for life, but Hartford said the groups should be looked upon as honoraries, similar to the University's Engineering Honor Society Tau Beta Pi. "If you view them as an honor society, they are by definition elite, but elite based on some sort of criteri- on that we regard as legitimate," Hartford said. Another turning point Recently, the Tower Society has come to another pivotal point in its history. The females of Adara and the males of Michigamua are again facing the trend of change that confronted them in the early 1980s when the issue of gender equity was brought to the fore- front. Earlier this semester, University administrators told members of the Tower Society that the organiza- tion must comply with gender equity regulations by the start of next school year or lose its long-standing affiliation with the University. "At this point I have basically said to both groups that they must comply with federal law," Hartford said. "This spring, when they tap new members, they must be co-educational" Hartford said she didn't know how the groups would choose to be co-educational - whether they would join together or each separately recruit mem- bers of the opposite sex. The other option - moving off campus and con- sequently severing its link to the University -- would mean moving out of the rooms high in the sixth and seventh floors in the tower of the Michigan Union. Open access to this area is allowed only to this small group of University senior campus leaders each year. The society would also lose the privileges that come from being associated with the University. "We would not recognize them as a University or Michigan organization," Hartford said. Currently, the societies are like other student organizations in that they receive support from the University - office space, students account services and internal mail. In addition, they are assured University space every year without filing for renewal, just like the WCBN radio station and the Michigan Student Assembly. Title IX, formally known as an Education Amendment of 1972 under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is the same federally-enforced law that makes National Sports Law Institute, who specializes in Title IX enforcement. "The law has to do with anything receiving feder- al funding," Anderson said. Failure to comply could result in federal funding cuts and other penalties. "It has nothing to do with the numbers of people in the groups," Anderson said, explaining that the actual percentages of representation and the exclu- siveness is what matters. "If you have a campus enrollment of 10,000, you have to match the propor- tion of men and women in student groups with the number of men and women on campus," Anderson said. Although the Tower Society is the umbrella group for the all-male Michigamua and the all-female Adara, the University says it breaks the Title IX doc- trine because having one male sub-group and one female sub-group does not create a solution, as many members once thought it might do. Changing tradition In the late 1980s, campus groups protested the use of Native American traditional symbols in Michigamua's initiation ceremonies and general prac- tices. The anger escalated to a filing of a charge by the Minority Affairs Commission of the Michigan Student Assembly for violations against a 1973 ruling of the Civil Rights Commission. "Michigamua is formed on the idea of being a lost Indian tribe," said SNRE junior Joe Reilly, a member of the Native American Student Association. "Initiation ceremonies have always involved using drums and pipes which are very sacred to Native American peo- ple." In April 1989, some campus groups reported see- ing members imitating Native American behavior. Since that time, the society has eliminated a totem pole associated with the organization. "On the surface and in interactions with the rest of the University, things have changed," Reilly said. "But in reality, their whole existence really hasn't changed." But the struggle, largely behind closed doors, con- tinues. NASA members have presented their concerns to Hartford and University President Lee Bollinger during the past few years. Reilly said it is not only the negative reflection on Native American culture - members of NASA have been asked to join Michigamua but have refused - but also the overall elitism that is questionable. "Basically, they have no right at this public University," Reilly said. "They get exclusive rights ... which we feel is offensive, racist." Reilly cited the secretive aura that surrounds the old chants and customs stemming from the organization's formation in 1902. Elitists Imagine a uni- versity whose lone secret society is so secretive its mem- bers wear a disguise in the school's year- book - and stand perched high on a hill while the photograph- er shoots from the val- ley below. "It was just eerie; they wore white hoods," said University of Kansas graduate stu- dent Partha Mazumdar, who has researched the destruction of his school's secret society, Pachacamac. The group, formed in the early 1900s as an all-male and all-white elitist organiza- cOrO tion, remained that way through the civil rights battles of the 1960s - only to be shut down completely in 1992. "I think of the (Ku Klux) Klan when I see their pic- ture" Mazumdar said, adding that the group went "above and beyond" the stereotype of fraternity mem- bers that characterized its formation. "It was the big shooters from the big houses ... and people would find out who the seniors were at gradu- ation," Mazumdar said. Forty years later, one member joined with the sole purpose of destroying the "elitist" group and succeed- ed by gaining power in the student government while being a member of the organization and exposing some of its secrets to the students and administrators. But Mazumdar said elitist organizations may still exist. "Are there other secret societies? Maybe," Mazumdar said. "They're secret, so I don't know. But I doubt there are any with any power." As University of Virginia administrators gathered for an on-campus recruiting" meeting several years ago four men in hoods and robes joined them at their table. Their solemn pres- ence spawned letters from individuals angry about their cloaked and secretive appearance at what should have been an optimistic recruiting opportunity for Virginia. The robed individuals were members of the Society of Purple Shadows, one of the elite and shrouded organizations at the university. "We got some pretty scathing let- ters about them," said University o Virginia Dean of Students Bob Canevari, recalling the incident that highlights his memories o interaction with one of the school's seven secret soci- eties. But despite the negative feelings toward the presence of the society's members, the secret soci- eties at Virginia - six of which do not wish to be named - continue to be groups of notable campus leaders. The words secret society bring voices to a whisper at Virginia -as they do at other universities. Canevari said it is the organizations themselves, not the mem- bers they seek, that stimulate the doubts and questions about these university-independent groups. "Their mere existence merits questioning," Canevari said. "Given the issues on college campuses, the last thing you need is secret organizations under the cloak of anonymity." At Virginia, old yearbooks reveal lists of the names of involved students. Now, involvement is kept under- cover until death announcements are released, at which time the university administration acknowl- edges who the members were and when their mem- bership expired. "Based on the obituaries I have seen, these people are definitely student leaders with a strong interest in campus leadership and honor," said Wayne Cozart, the associate director of the Virginia alumni association. "Usually there is honor wrapped up in it; they are interested in maintaining a concept of honor." Cozart has spent time tracking various secret soci- eties across the nation, and labeled his school's soci- eties "extremely" secretive when compared to others he has witnessed nationwide. Although he has invested personal time in the sub- ject, he has not been able to compile a complete list of members. "I've been around long enough to say who might be a member, but I still can't say for certain," Cozart said. Hartford called places like Virginia "way more secretive" than the University's Tower Society. A way out At Penn State University, a past member of the prestigious Parmi Nous society explained how the membership of his group avoided Title IX complica- tions currently facing similar groups at other col- leges. "I've never thought about operating a society of just men or just women," said former Parmi Nous President Scott Nycum, adding that PSU's several societies are all co-educational. "I never thought about it as bringing genders together. The bigger focus is bringing people together who would not normally meet." Like the Tower Society, Parmi Nous unites leaders from all parts of campus life. Formed in 1904, when it was originally all-male, the group became co-ed in the mid 1970s, when civil rights causes were reaching their peak. "There was a need at that time to recognize women in leader- ship; there was no mandate handed down," Nycum said. He called the society, which exists on campus with the Lion's Paw and Skull and Bones - also a society at Yale University - subtly secret. "It is up to each individual whether they want to explain their membership," Nycum said. "You can make it whatever you want' Endurance Societies like the Iron Cross at the University of Wisconsin promote an exclusive co-ed learning atmosphere that current member Samir Murty said combats many "secret society" stereotypes. "We meet in a very public place," Murty said. "We take on a student issue and try to address it the best way we can," Despite the concerns of minorities and the gender equity issues facing Michigamua and Adara mem- bers today, Hartford said, there should not be a problem with their existence on a diverse campus. "These were founded as senior hono- rares," Hartford said. The term elitism' does- 't apply." But others ay continue o display feel- ngs from the Outside. "We're will- img to do whatev- er it takes to get them out of here," eilly said. "If that involves legal mea- sures a resources to do that, I wouldn't count that out." P4 ~Amidst the mixed feelings, boxes of old Michigamua and Adara documents sit at the Bentley Library, slowly col- lecting dust. "Foundations of this tribe shall be to foster a loy- alty for our Alma Mater," an old pact of Michigamua reads. Together, its promises fit with those of Adara, handed to new members each year. 01 9 -a