In practice, the system may or may not be harmless. But to keep it alive serves zero useful purposes and degrades the reputation of the institution.
In practice, the system may or may not be harmless. But to keep it alive serves zero useful purposes and degrades the reputation of the institution.
Isn't the very notion of an Ivy league university "rooted in sociopolitical elitism"?
And doesn't it serve major "benefit to the institution"? That's its target group, and they want prospective students to know they can enter that elite themselves.
And if there's a secret society you can aspire to get in of students and alumni promoting each other and handing out favors, even better.
They should write it in their ads!
Couldn't the description "organizations rooted in sociopolitical elitism (with an attendant history of discrimination)" be applied to elite universities or the "ivy league" generally? Exclusivity, a taste of the old upper class traditions, a bit of mystique..
What makes you think such an affiliation serves no benefit to the institution? Exclusivity can be enticing unto itself. People want to have a shot of being elite.
As an alumnus, I find the hand-wringing over these societies weird, because they're completely irrelevant to most students and have been for a long time. (No, I wasn't invited to join one. I don't even think I knew anybody in one of the name-brand societies, at least not well.) The fact that Bush and Kerry were both Bonesmen was amusing, but hardly surprising - the societies are exactly where you'd expect ambitious, privileged social climbers to end up by senior year. They're not even very secret, since the membership lists inevitably leaked. The only time the rest of campus noticed is when they walk past one of the "tombs" - windowless clubhouses - or when a really terrible movie about S&B ("The Skulls") came out while I was an undergrad.
Are they creepy and elitist? Of course. Are they a sinister conspiracy? No more than Goldman Sachs or McKinsey.
This stuff might not affect the colleges that much, the fallout happens later when these people go off and get jobs.