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2 — Wednesday, March 10, 2021
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Phoenix, a secret society at U-M,
votes to disband permanently
Organization discontinues as another society Order of Angell considers potential dissolvement
CAMPUS LIFE
BROOKE VAN HORNE
Daily Staff Reporter
Phoenix, a co-ed secret society at
the University of Michigan, voted to
discontinue their organization on
Feb. 21, according to a statement by
the current Phoenix class obtained
by The Daily March 1. The society,
which formerly went by the name
Adara, has been in existence since
1979.
Senior
Phoenix
members
usually “tap” students in their
junior year to join the society for
the upcoming academic year. This
year, however, they voted “by an
overwhelming majority” to forego
that responsibility after months of
studying the organization’s history
and debating its future, according to
the statement.
“Though we make no judgments
on Adara / Phoenix’s past, we do
not believe that we have a future to
play on this campus,” the statement
reads. “This decision was not taken
lightly by our class, nor was it made
out of convenience.”
According to their statement,
Adara/Phoenix was formed after a
Title-IX complaint was filed against
Michigamua — now known as
Order of Angell — the University’s
previously male-only secret society.
Phoenix aimed to give women
leaders on campus a space for
support and empowerment and was
founded on principles of “character,
achievement, leadership, loyalty and
service,” according to the statement,
as Order did not accept female
members until 2000.
“When we were first tapped for
Phoenix almost a year ago, we were
told that ‘P’ was what we made of
it,” the statement reads. “The only
purpose of our organization was
to anonymously improve campus
through our roles as campus
leaders. We were to launch our
own projects and initiatives for the
improvement of the University as a
whole. We were to build friendships
in the process, taking advantage of
relationships that would otherwise
not have been formed.”
In their statement, Phoenix
also urged Order and “all other
secret societies” at the University
to dissolve indefinitely. Phoenix
specified that their decision was not
made in connection or influenced
by Order’s “recently publicized
outreach to it’s alumni regarding its
future.”
The Michigan Daily obtained an
email Feb. 23 from Order’s current
class to the group’s alumni saying
that the organization is considering
disbanding
and
has
already
suspended its “tapping” process.
The email sought feedback from
alumni on the role the organization
plays on campus.
A group of Order alumni of
color also drafted a letter on Feb.
23 urging the organization either
permanently disband or at the very
least institute a series of five reforms
due to its history of appropriating
Native American culture and claims
of a continued hostile environment
for members of color. According to
the letter, “race-based aggression
was assumed to have been limited
to ‘the past,’ even while racialized
power dynamics continued to shape
the day-to-day of the organization.”
The extent of Order’s misuse of
Indigenous artifacts and culture
was brought to light in February
2000 when protestors from the
Students of Color Coalition occupied
the seventh floor of the Union, the
organization’s former meeting place,
for more than a month. According to
The Daily’s reporting at the time,
two other secret societies also met
in the tower, and the new Phoenix
statement acknowledged that Adara
was one of them.
“Adara occupied the upper floors
of the Michigan Union’s tower
alongside Michigamua in what
was known as the Tower Society,”
Phoenix’s statement reads.
In 2006, Michigamua went
through
a
series
of
reforms,
including changing its name to
Order of Angell, a tribute to the
University’s former president James
B. Angell. This choice has also been
criticized, since it went against
the wishes of the Angell family
and Angell himself negotiated the
Angell Treaty of 1880 that restricted
Chinese immigration to the US.
In Fall 2019, racial justice groups
at the University — including
the
United
Asian
American
Organizations, La Casa and the
Arab
Student
Association
—
released statements condemning
Order and all other secret societies
at the University. The Michigan
Daily voted to prohibit any of its
editors from joining Order or any
other exclusive senior honor society
on Feb. 7 — this vote came before
The Daily was aware that Order was
considering disbanding.
In their statement, Phoenix
pointed to the cognitive dissonance
that BIPOC members and potential
members feel in joining their
organization and discussed what
they called “the inherently elitist”
nature of all secret societies on
campus.
“We
believe
that
our
organization’s mandate of ‘campus
leaders’
as
a
prerequisite
for
membership is inherently elitist,”
the statement reads. “Leadership
roles are obtained through and
sustained by privilege. The meaning
of this phrase has never been
defined. In reality, each class of
Phoenix is tapped by friends in
previous
classes,
compounding
issues of elitism and homogeneity
that
have
long
plagued
our
organization.”
A BIPOC Phoenix member of
the class of 2021 — who remains
anonymous in the statement for
fear of professional retribution —
wrote that joining the club raised
ethical concerns for them and made
them question their place in the
organization.
“It is weird and discouraging to
have to think, ‘Am I joining a racist
club?’” they wrote. “It is even more
unnerving to be actively told while
being recruited that Phoenix is
not racist. I did and still do believe
that Phoenix is not a racist society.
However, it is modeled after one and
I think that it is time to realize that
distinction.”
Suzanne Saunders Hecker, a
1989 University and Phoenix alum,
wrote in an email to The Daily
that Phoenix alumni are “deeply
saddened” upon learning that the
current class has decided to disband
the organization.
“Adara/Phoenix
has
helped
the
leadership
path
of
many
underserved and underrepresented
constituencies at the University
of
Michigan,”
Hecker
wrote.
“The current classes of students
on campus are struggling with
enormous social upheavals in our
nation and world and are trying
to be as responsible as possible in
this environment. We respect the
time and care that these seniors
took in making their decision.
We look forward to reflecting
on our experiences within the
organization. We will strive to
listen and continually learn to
better understand the University
of Michigan students, leaders, and
community.”
Daily Staff Reporter Brooke Van
Horne can be reached at brookevh@
umich.edu.
RYAN LITTLE/Daily
The secret society Pheonix has reportedly voted to discontinue the organization, as Order of Angell considers potential dissolvement.