Final Exercises for the Class of 2016 will begin May 20, and several secret societies will likely use them to reveal information about their organizations and recognize graduates for their accomplishments.
Alexander “Sandy” Gilliam Jr., retired University protocol and history officer, said there used to be only three main graduation-related ceremonies at the University — Baccalaureate, Class Day and Commencement Exercises.
“Baccalaureate was a non-denominational religious service with an outside speaker, [and] Class Day was the occasion for the awarding of various prizes and honors, as well as a speech by the Class President,” Gilliam said in an email statement. “The Commencement Exercises were for the conferring of degrees and a speech, usually by an outside speaker.”
Gilliam said the Commencement Exercises remain the same, although they were split into two ceremonies on two successive days starting last year.
“Baccalaureate was abolished in the early ’70s, with elements melded into Class Day,” Gilliam said. “The name was changed to Valediction or Valedictory Exercises … in the late ‘70s.”
Valediction is not affiliated with religion and includes an outside speaker and speeches from the class president and other leaders at the University.
Gilliam said several awards and prizes are given out by secret societies at Valediction, including one from the Purple Shadows and two from the Seven Society. However, he said the presenters of these awards who appear on the stage “are not members — or at least not identified as such — of either group.”
These awards are the Purple Shadows’ Gordon F. Rainey Jr. Award, given to a student “for vigilance to the student experience,” the Seven Society’s Louis A. Onesty Memorial Scholar-Athlete Award, given to “an outstanding student athlete — male or female,” and the Seven Society’s James Earle Sargeant Award, “for a student organization deemed to have done outstanding work during the school year [that] just ended,” Gilliam said.
The Z Society also gives out the Edgar F. Shannon Award to the top undergraduate student at each of the University’s schools.
However, Gilliam said it is important to note that “the Z Society is partially secret in that its members are not known until their fourth year in the University.” The only truly secret societies at the University are the Seven Society and the Purple Shadows, according to Gilliam.
During Final Exercises, some secret societies display their symbols alongside awards given out. While there are no known symbols of the Purple Shadows, Gilliam said the honoree of the Rainey award is given a purple feather.
“In addition, for a number of years — at least 60 — the banners of the Seven Society, the IMP Society, and the Z Society have been hung from the portico of Old Cabell Hall during Finals,” Gilliam said.
Fourth-year Nursing student Elise Bottimore, a member of the Class of 2016 Trustees, said there are different ways in which secret societies reveal themselves to the graduating class.
“The Z Society reveals themselves at graduation by wearing their Z rings,” Bottimore said in an email statement. “The Purple Shadows give out an award during Valediction, as does the 7 Society, which we — the graduation committee of Trustees — present. The Yellow Journal is not necessarily a secret society but their writers are ‘secret,’ but they can talk about it after graduation”
Additionally, Bottimore said the president of the Raven Society carries the Raven Banner as part of the graduation procession.
Jake Lichtenstein contributed reporting to this article.
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