Seven Society (Order of the Crown and Dagger)

thumb|300px|right|This 7 Society plaque hangs near the entrance of the Sadler Center and honors retired Vice President for Student Affairs, W. Samuel Sadler ('64, M.Ed. '71), for his 41 years of service to the College.">cite news
url=http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2008/secret-society-donates-sadler-plaque-001.php |title=Secret society donates Sadler plaque |work=W&M News & Events |date=2008-10-01 |last=Bracken |first=Alexandra ] The Seven Society, Order of the Crown and Dagger is the longest surviving secret societycitation
url=http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19420318.pdf
last=Anonymous
title=Secret Seven Announces Members For Past Year
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1942-03-18] citation
url=http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19390919.pdf
last=Anonymous
title=The 7 Society
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1939-08-19] at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The mysterious, yet altruistic group seeks to enliven and enhance the College community through various clandestine acts. [cite news |url=http://www.dogstreetjournal.com/story/4159 |title=What We Carry With Us |work=The DoG Street Journal |date=2008-06-07 |last=Knappenberger |first=Jonna ] The society is said to consist of seven senior men chosen during their junior year. citation
url=http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19420318.pdf
last=Anonymous
title=Secret Seven Announces Members For Past Year
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1942-03-18] [citation
url= http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19400319.pdf
last=Anonymous
title=“7”
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1940-03-19] In the past, graduating members revealed their identities each spring.citation
url=http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19420318.pdf
last=Anonymous
title=Secret Seven Announces Members For Past Year
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1942-03-18] Today's membership, however, is steeped in mystery and is only revealed upon a member's death.

History

The Seven Society's founding year is reported to have been as early as 1826.citation
url=http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19420318.pdf
last=Anonymous
title=Secret Seven Announces Members For Past Year
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1942-03-18] According to student accounts found in university archives, only four of the College's current secret societies – the Seven Society, Flat Hat Club, Alphas, and 13’s – were known to exist prior to the 1990s. [http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/index.php?p=] [http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/browse.cfm] The four groups sporadically appear several times throughout William and Mary history.

To this day, the Seven Society's origin and early activities remain unknown. The second half of the 19th century brought the American Civil War, two devastating fires and, ultimately, the seven-year closing of the College from 1881 to 1888. [http://www.wm.edu/about/history/chronology/1850to1899/index.php] By the beginning of the 20th century, however, the society began to resurface, and in a 1939 issue of the William and Mary student newspaper, the Seven Society publicly declared themselves to be “the only secret society of the College of William and Mary.”

Historically the society has focused on serving the College community – announcing, also in 1939, that its purpose was to "discuss such affairs of proper import as to bear directly or indirectly upon the welfare of the student body" and "to work to bring about the results desired at the College."

Philanthropic acts

Now rumored to meet late at night in Colonial Williamsburg's Shields Tavern, "Sevens" have become most noted for recognizing and encouraging members of the William and Mary community with placards and personal notes/letters.cite news |url=http://www.flathatnews.com/content/peeking-closed-societies |title=Peeking Into Closed Societies |work=The Flat Hat |date=2008-04-08 |last=Johnson |first=Chase ] The group’s endowment has grown significantly in recent decades, allowing them to pursue major philanthropic causes such as scholarships and anonymous financial gifts and donations to the College. Some of the Sevens' most well-known public acts include: the hanging of cloth banners bearing messages and the society’s distinctive symbol (a royal crown and sword above an enlarged Seven), the placing of Seven Halloween jack-o-lanterns featuring the group’s symbol in various locations throughout campus, and the leaving of mysterious gifts for individuals and groups who may be in need (e.g. in 2003, a set of umbrellas bearing the Sevens’ symbol were found outside the main entrance of the Office of Undergraduate Admission). [cite news |url=http://www.dogstreetjournal.com/story/2049 |title=Shhh! The Secret Side to the College’s Lesser Known Societies |work=The DoG Street Journal |date=2004-11-02 |last=Millfeld |first=Becca ]

Notable members

* Lawrence W. I'Anson, Chief Justice, Virginia Supreme Court (1974 - 1981)
* Roy R. Charles, noted W&M benefactor and philanthropist
* H. Westcott "Scotty" Cunningham, first president of Christopher Newport University
* Arthur "Art" Matsu, W&M's first Asian-American student (class of 1928)
* Earl Gregg Swem, Jr., son of renowned W&M librarian, Earl Gregg Swem, Sr.

I Am the College of William and Mary

written by Dr. D.W. Woodbridge (1945) [citation
url=http://swem.wm.edu/beta/flathat/issues/fh19450228.pdf
last=Woodbridge
first=Dudley
title=I Am The College Of William and Mary
newspaper=The Flat Hat
date=1945-02-28]

"Adopted by the Seven Society, Order of the Crown and Dagger as their official poem."

We are the beautiful buildings, the stately trees, the statue of Lord Botetourt, the friendly campus. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the scholars, the philosophers, the scientists that have pioneered human progress. We come from every corner of the globe and from the remotest periods recorded in history. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the youth whom the call of duty tore from the College’s bosom. We are fighting and dying in a thousand chimes without a thought of personal sacrifice, that colleges like William and Mary might live. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the greatest freedoms of humanity: freedom of thought, freedom of press, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech in whose presence tyranny and falsehood cannot long survive. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the traditions of the College: the tradition of honor, the tradition of service, tradition of loyalty. We are intangible, but whenever you think of the College, or sing her Alma Mater you feel that we are very real. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the City of Williamsburg and the Counties of York and James City. Our people serve the College in a myriad of ways, ministering to all her manifold needs. We are part of the College of William and Mary. I am the Commonwealth of Virginia. My history and that of the College are inseparable. I was at her side in her darkest hours, when her friends were penniless, her faculty dispersed, her halls empty. Through me, the humblest citizen contributes to her support so that she may live and prosper. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the people of the United States. Restored Williamsburg is our shrine. We came by the tens of thousands to be instructed and inspired. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the Board of Visitors. We determine the policies of the College. On the wisdom of these policies her very existence may depend. We give generously from busy lives with pecuniary reward. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the President and the Administration. We weld into one harmonious whole all the diverse elements of the College and cause them to function smoothly as an educated institution of the First Order. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the faculty. Into our hands is trusted the instruction of youth, humanity’s most precious possession. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the College’s activities: the athletics, the publications, the social clubs. We educate the students in courage, in honor, in dependability, and in the social graces. We are part of the College of William and Mary.

We are the alumni, both living and dead, upon whose minds the imprint of the College has been planted. The College never forgets us though some of us may forget her. We are part of the College of William and Mary.

We are the students. We attend our Alma Mater in never ending processions and receive bountiful gifts. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are fathers and mothers, the brothers and sisters, the friends and the well wishers of the students in residence. We rejoice at their accomplishments. We are part of the College of William and Mary. We are the countless generations to come. The College was founded to serve us. We are part of the College of William and Mary. I am the College of William and Mary. I have been forged in the anvil of time by master workmen. I have faith in humanity under God. I believe in a glorious future. I am the seed of the future. I am the College of William and Mary.

ee also

*Collegiate secret societies in North America

References