Franklin Society

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For the Whittier College Fraternity, see The Franklin Society (Fraternity).
The Franklin Society Coat of Arms
The Franklin Society Coat of Arms

“The Franklin Society” is a secret society based at Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, and is one of the oldest student secret societies in the United States.[1] Organized in 1824, it was created in a year when such a large class entered Brown University that the two existing literary debating societies, the Philermenian Society and the United Brothers Society could not accommodate the new students.[2] Notable personages such as Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Henry Clay accepted honorary membership into the society during this time.[3] The society was founded with the motto: Scientia Potentia Est, meaning “Knowledge is Power.”

Although originally a male-only Society, with Brown’s creation of the Women’s College in 1891, the Franklin Society opened its membership to women as well.[4] Reviled by undeserved privilege, the Franklin Society has no tradition of accepting legacies on that sole basis although multiple generations of members have been accepted on their own merit. Known for the sophistication and intensity of its discussions, the Franklin Society has served as a haven to intellectualism.


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[edit] History

Ten years after its establishment, in 1834, a select core of students in the Franklin Society recognized that the quality of members had diminished due to competition with the other two literary societies and the new emergence and popularity of Fraternities.[5] Recognizing a loss of general integrity within the Society, the Franklin Society was dissolved, its library of several hundred volumes was turned over to the College Library, and in 1847 its members were elected in equal proportions into the two older societies.[6] Desiring to create a new student society with a heightened emphasis on personal achievement in place of the usual collegiate debauchery, the now incognito Franklin Society in 1834 revised its constitution, deciding to remain completely secret and removed from campus culture. The Franklin Society remained essentially unknown to the Brown Community until the 1970s when rumors first began to spread about the existence of a Brown Secret Society.

The Franklin Society is rumored to meet in the locked Carrie Tower on Brown University’s Quiet Green. The agendas are never set before the meeting. Instead, at each meeting a subject is proposed and the meeting is spent discussing various ideas, philosophies, and opinions, ultimately articulating a means to implement a societal improvement based on the Society’s agreements.

[edit] Membership

The society begins inducting students in their sophomore year, basing selection on the inductee’s character, achievements, and demonstration of specific personality traits, members having often been described as students of "known integrity and of good conversation." Dogood’s often must have performed a specific feat of note to give cause for their induction. Rumored members of the Franklin Society include Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, Sidney E. Frank, John F. Kennedy Jr., and student architects of the New Curriculum, Ira Magaziner and Elliot Maxwell. In addition, the Franklin Society also uses its Honorary Members to introduce non-Brown figures to the group and further diversify the intellectual discussions of meetings. Honorary members include accomplished politicians, architects, writers, ambassadors and actors.

[edit] Coat of Arms

The Franklin Society coat of arms consists of three golden key intersecting each other, with the Brown crest in the background. The Brown crest serves as a tribute to the University, while the three keys are distinctly Franklin symbols. The three keys, partially references to Benjamin Franklin's electricity experiment involving a key and a kite, are said to represent Science, Reason and Action.


[edit] References

  1. ^ Mitchell, Martha. (1993). "Franklin Society." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
  2. ^ Mitchell, Martha. (1993). "Fraternities." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
  3. ^ Mitchell, Martha. (1993). "Franklin Society." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
  4. ^ Mitchell, Martha. (1993). "Franklin Society." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Martha. (1993). "Fraternities." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.
  6. ^ Mitchell, Martha. (1993). "Franklin Society." Encyclopedia Brunoniana.