# Cap and Skull

Cap and Skull is a co-educational senior honor society at Rutgers University in New Jersey. It was founded on January 18, 1900. Admission to Cap and Skull is dependent on excellence in academics, athletics, the arts, and public service. The organization considers leadership and character as factors for membership. Eighteen members are selected each year.

## History

On January 18, 1900, ten members of the senior class of Rutgers College met in the Chi Psi lodge to form Cap and Skull. 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 similar honor society at Rutgers.
The ten founders drew up a constitution and adopted a code of secrecy and a motto. To ensure the exclusivity of the organization, the 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.
In the 1920s, the society began to reexamine its selection criteria to increase membership. Under the new system, each leadership position and honor on campus was awarded a point value, and students with the highest cumulative value were selected for induction. In 1923, in response to the growing student body, the number of members to be tapped each year was fixed at twelve and a tri-fold criterion for selection was established:
* Activities, athletic, and campus
* Scholarship
* Character and service to Rutgers
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 for Cap and Skull 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 twelve-member selection in 1948. On January 31, 1950, an all-day gala celebration was held in honor of Cap and Skull's golden anniversary—the first of the ten-year reunions that are still held today. The golden anniversary celebrated the 440 men selected as members of the society during those first fifty years.

### Demise and rebirth

Through the 1960s, sweeping social changes occurred and organizations such as Cap and Skull came under scrutiny. In 1969, Cap and Skull graduated its last class. Its alumni 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.
In November 1990, the Cap and Skull Room was formally leased, solidifying Cap and Skull's physical presence on campus. In 2000, a large gala event was held for the 100th anniversary of Cap and Skull and members endowed an annual scholarship to Rutgers students. Author William B. Brahms, 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.

## Symbols

The motto of Cap and Skull is Spectemur agendo or "Let us be judged by our actions". Its pillars are Spirit, History, and Tradition.

## Membership

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.
Admission to Cap and Skull is dependent on excellence in academics, athletics, the arts, and public service. The organization considers leadership and character as factors for membership. Using these criteria, only eighteen new members are selected each year.

## Notable members

Following are some of the notable members of Cap and Skull.
| Name | Initiation | Notability |
| Richard H. Askin | 1969 | CEO of Tribune Entertainment and president of Samuel Goldwyn Television |
| Al Aronowitz | 1959 | Writer and friend of Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Amiri Baraka, and George Harrison |
| Jay M. Bernhardt | 1991 | President of Emerson College |
| Samuel G. Blackman | 1927 | Editor with the Associated Press and reporter who broke the Lindbergh kidnapping story |
| William B. Brahms | 1989 | Librarian, encyclopedist, author, and historian |
| John J. Byrne | 1954 | Chairman and GEO of GEICO and chairman and CEO of White Mountains Insurance Group |
| Clifford P. Case | 1925 | United States Senate |
| Jay Chiat | 1953 | Founder of TBWA\Chiat\Day advertising agency |
| Harry Cicma | 2004 | Tennis player and sports anchor |
| Stanley Norman Cohen | 1956 | Pioneer of gene splicing |
| Robert Cooke | 1900 | First researcher to identify antihistamines |
| James Dale | 1993 | Gay rights activist, and litigant in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale |
| Homer Hazel | 1925 | All-American football player and member of the College Football Hall of Fame |
| Alfred Ellet Hitchner | 1904 | Football player and coach, |
| Franklyn A, Johnson | 1947 | President of Jacksonville University and Southwest Florida College |
| Robert E. Kelley | 1956 | Youngest lieutenant general in US Air Force history; superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy |
| Herbert Klein | 1951 | United States House of Representatives |
| Norman M. Ledgin | 1950 | Journalist and author |
| Robert E. Lloyd | 1967 | Professional basketball player with the New York Nets |
| T. David Mazzarella | 1962 | Editor of USA Today and president of Gannett International |
| Anne Milgram | 1992 | Attorney general of New Jersey |
| Charles Molnar | 1956 | Inventor of the personal computer |
| David A. Morse | 1929 | Director-general of International Labour Organization who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969 on behalf of the ILO |
| Robert Nash | 1916 | First player traded in the National Football League and the first captain of the New York Giants |
| Ozzie Nelson | 1927 | Actor known for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet |
| Richard Newcomb | 1936 | Author |
| Randal Pinkett | 1993 | President and CEO of BCT Partners and winner of The Apprentice 4 |
| Rebecca Quick | 1993 | Anchor for CNBC Squawk Box |
| Rey Ramsey | 1982 | Social justice entrepreneur |
| Roland Renne | 1927 | President of Montana State University-Bozeman |
| Paul Robeson | 1919 | Bass-baritone concert artist, actor, and professional football player |
| Austin Wakeman Scott | 1903 | Professor at Harvard Law School |
| John Scudder | 1923 | Physician and research pioneer in the field of blood storage and replacement |
| Walter Spence | 1934 | Member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame |
| Dick Standish | 1964 | Anchor and reporter on television and radio at KYW-TV in Philadelphia |