Leadership in larger organizations is held to a higher standard because the trust put in them is not only for how likable they are, but also their weight of maintaining the reputation of their organization. Yale’s popularity contest culminates in who is elected to leadership positions in any of the spaces mentioned, mainly to distinguish any one person from another.

The degrees of separation between any two Yalies is limited because of the vast overlap, and eventually, everyone at least knows of each other or knows someone who does. Most Yalies transcend those divides by getting involved on campus through athletics, extracurriculars, cultural houses, Greek life, jobs, and occasionally classes. In high school the word was popular, but with fourteen different Yale bubbles, there are just as many popular circles. I cannot speak for Skull & Bones, nor do I want to, but here is what I have gathered to explain what notability means here. One of the aspects of membership into the oldest and “most powerful” societies on Yale’s campus, which is widely known, is that the individuals selected are among the most notable on campus. Everything that occurs in one of the most exclusive spaces on campus has been published online amid rumors and lies, and it becomes our job to decide which parts are true when privacy is maintained. The real answer is something can be private but not a secret. So, you may be wondering how spaces like secret societies exist, especially with an air of mystery. It does not take long to realize that everyone’s business is known, which can be a double-edged sword. That information then becomes social currency for making or maintaining friendships on a campus that is, at times, too small for its own good. All it takes is for one person to see who walks in and out of the silly building on High Street for the membership of Yale’s most reputable society to be known.

Secrets do not exist at Yale, including the secrecy of societies.

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