Illustration by Anaelda Ramos

Secret societies do exist on this campus. They are not a myth or piece of gossip. I have conducted multiple interviews with an anonymous source who went through the recruitment process for one such society, Seven. And I have every intention of exposing the inner workings of this secret society called Seven, also referred to as Red Bones. 

A friend of mine, who I will be referring to as an anonymous source, involved me in the organization. Despite not being a member myself, I carried the weight of keeping the society’s secrets and lying to my friends for the sake of my anonymous source. This story is largely about the organization itself, but also the implications of secret societies on members’ friends and family — those involved without their consent. While my anonymous source lied to me, and then forced me to lie as well, I became isolated from my own friends and continually invalidated. As a result of my involuntary association with Seven, I struggle with being on campus at night. It’s hard to keep my thoughts in check. I see the secret society in every structure now. I grieve the part of myself that I lost every day. I will never know the names or identities of the people who hurt me. I will never be able to move on when every second I spend on campus, every face I pass by, may be a secret society member. For me, it will never be over as long as this secret society stands.

My anonymous source was recruited in fall of 2023 in an email: “Our campus will soon come alive and this time will be your own. Please make yourself available on campus to receive a call Thursday night, October 12th, between the hours of 10:30pm and 12:30am. Keep your time open. We have seen a spark in you, and we hope to know your fire. We hope that you will choose to proceed. This email is for your eyes only; we place our trust in you.”

Over the phone, he was directed to Brookings and received a message about his recruitment. After that night, emails came every week. The recruitment process quickly accelerated to lying, scheming, and hazing. He has since quit the society. But it still stands. Seven should not be given the space to exist on this campus. Recruitment for Seven begins in October of the student’s sophomore year. If you are recruited, do not engage with the emails, do not head to campus, and do not answer the calls. 

On a Sunday night in November, my anonymous source was told to head to campus with the other recruits. From there, they were blindfolded and put in a car to drive across town to a house that none of the members were familiar with. In this last recruitment cycle, as my anonymous source heard from other members, one female student brought pepper spray because she felt unsafe. Previously, a woman brought a knife for the same reason. The Seven higher-ups wore masks and prompted members to divulge personal information in intervals of seven minutes. They were hazed until 4:00 a.m., totaling over six hours. Before this incident, the secret society sent the following email:

Hazing, according to the Fraternity Executives Association is “any action taken or situation created intentionally…to produce mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule.” Seven hazed my anonymous source on multiple occasions, the most notable being the night they kidnapped the recruits. Blindfolding them and putting them in a car to drive across town created feelings of immense discomfort. Additionally, the act of wearing a mask while questioning individuals not only put them in an uncomfortable situation but also created a hierarchy between the ones wearing the masks and those being questioned. Being asked questions in a location that none of the members knew, with people they did not know and could not see, created a power dynamic where refusal to answer was not an option. Both instances of questioning and kidnapping are forms of hazing. This is real and harmful and not at all fun. 

Seven claims to be an organization of “pure fucking mischief.” They display themselves as a harmless group going on adventures, yet they feel the need to employ a safe word that should be used if someone wants to leave the society: “spritely sensei.” Seven uses the rhetoric that they are just a group of friends, just mischievous people out at night. It is far from the truth and is, in fact, a form of indoctrination. They are not just a group of friends. Secret societies intentionally put students in danger. 

The existence of a safe word is ineffective when there are factors of indoctrination at work. Consistently throughout emails, Seven comforts members into a false sense of security, repeating again and again that they are safe. When an organization is not upfront about its implications or the events it requires from its participants, a safe word will not save them, nor will they have the proper agency to employ it. 

Being in a secret society can damage or sever a member’s relationships. My anonymous source left for multiple hours one night without sharing his whereabouts, which concerned his partner, friends, and family. The next morning, he decided to leave and emailed the society accordingly. Instead of letting him go, Seven persuaded him back again, allowing him to tell select people as long as he stayed in the group. These select individuals, including myself, were then also forced to lie without being members themselves. The safe word was all a facade to make students feel safe without any intention of letting a member go. If a member leaves, there is the possibility of the organization’s information getting leaked. Seven may say that they will allow members to withdraw if asked, but they have deep incentives to keep members involved.

Secret societies generate isolation between members and their loved ones. For one, members have been specifically selected from peers, forming a feeling of superiority. By creating this in-group and out-group, isolation becomes inherent and intrinsic to secret societies. Members are forced to lie to their loved ones and friends. According to my anonymous source, several members with long-term partners lied to their significant other about their participation. Seven encourages dishonesty between members and their partners and family members. It is what their entire model is based on. Lies between friends and family lead to isolation, forging stronger bonds between society members instead. 

To maintain their exclusivity, these secret societies recruit from influential clubs on campus, including Outing Club. According to my source, two previous presidents of the Outing Club were members of the secret society. The process of their selection to the presidency was not democratic. From my source, I was informed that the presidents were not voted by Outing Club members and that they instead decided to step forward. This decision was heavily influenced by inside dynamics and, by my speculation, Seven. It is no coincidence that the members who stepped forward to take the role of power were also in a secret society. My anonymous source himself was an executive member of Outing Club at the time of his recruitment. Outing Club has since changed its structure, and the current president is unaffiliated, to my knowledge. 

Recruiting from specific groups on campus creates a hierarchy within student groups that the rest of the organization is unaware of because of the exclusive and discrete nature of secret societies. 

Secret societies actively perpetuate inequality, descended from colonization and segregation from white-supremacist organizations such as the KKK. Even societies that claim to be liberal and forward, much like Seven, still “promote ethnic and racial purity and superiority in concert with religious, economic, and political concerns that appear, at first blush, benign or racially neutral.” Separating secret societies’ modern agendas from their racist origins is difficult. An organization that engages in secrecy, exclusion, and is of white-supremacist origins cannot be considered truly equitable.

If you are approached by or receive an email from a secret society, do not engage. Secret societies hurt the individuals they exclude on campus. Individuals that are excluded from the society, yet completely unaware of the dynamics at play. They hurt partners and friends. It is not an adventure. It is a meticulous scheme to isolate and pedestal specific groups on campus. Secret societies are real and harmful. They hold positions of power in influential clubs on campus. They encourage lies between members and their partners, friends, and family, worrying and implicating loved ones. They haze students free from administrative control. They do not deserve peace while existing on campus. From “A People’s History of Washington University:” “Understanding Red Bones [Seven] and why secret societies are a problem as a whole is much more complicated than a ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game’ mentality. Secret societies are about entitlement and silencing. People who are part of a secret society know the power they hold above others.”

To those of you currently in Seven, I hope that you feel shame. Shame not only for being complicit in an institution that goes against every value you and your peers hold dear but for the position you, unknowingly or not, put other members and associated people in. Let this shame show you the truth of the society you have constructed and perpetuated. Consider the indoctrination and manipulation that you have faced. There will be no peace on this campus until you resign from your secret society and abolish every root of its influence. 

Step down from Seven. You know who you are.