| Secret Socities |
| Overview |
| Sometime in the fall of 2005, Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul received a mysterious letter requesting that he look underneath a water fountain on the seventh floor of a building honoring someone with seven letters in his last name. He compliantly went to the proper location in the Johnson Science Tower, where he found a check designated for a "deserving student affected by Hurricane Katrina." |
| Equally mysterious was the appearance in November of a large decorative stone on the lawn of Danforth Chapel. The rock bore an emblem with a leaf surrounded by seven stars and the date 1877. Believing it to be a fraternity prank, Union and Programs Director Barbara Ross conducted a little detective work and discovered the existence of an organization calling itself The Gold Leaf. "A group of individuals," according to one of the society's letters, "has taken an oath to commit itself to the betterment of The University of Southern Mississippi." |
| Other individuals and groups on campus also began to receive correspondence from The Gold Leaf, often accompanied by a check, usually for $777.77. Apparently, the significance of the number seven derived from the 227 students and 17 faculty members present at the school's opening on September 18, 1912. The date 1877 possibly reflected the origin of the Mississippi Teachers Association, which played such a crucial role in the institution's founding. |
| Another of the society's letters stated, "Our mission is being accomplished through the making of financial and other gifts to individuals associated with the University whom we believe bring honor to the University through their work and lives. Membership in The Gold Leaf is and will always remain anonymous so that the focus of the gift will be on the recipient." |
| A separate but apparently companion organization, The Society of 1910, also emerged. "As students past and present," said one of its statements, "we are driven by our overriding founding principle-to work in all things for the betterment of The University of Southern Mississippi." |
| Ross suggested that it would be fitting for the first named meeting room in the Thad Cochran Center to be The Gold Leaf Room, and on July 7, 2007 (07-07-07), she received a check (the first of seven totaling the $25,000 required for the naming opportunity), designated, of course, for room 227. |
| On the 100th anniversary of Founders' Day, March 30, 2010, the University dedicated a magnificent Centennial Gateway at the main entrance to the campus. That stately monument to the institution's first 100 years was made possible in part by The Gold Leaf Society's donation of $17,777.77 toward its construction. |
| Later that year, fall commencement ceremonies included the unveiling of a portrait of the five original campus buildings specially commissioned by the Society of 1910. Donated to the University, it remains on display in the Aubrey K. Lucas Administration Building. |
| In addition to the secret societies mentioned above, other secret societies continue to emerge, some of which include the Gilded Eagles and the Black Key Society. |
