The Zionist-Wasp Split of 1991 : Tomb Raiders - The Po'-Mo' Attack on Skull & Bones

"They're all old, aging Maoists - second string Maoists! They're not even the leading Maoists! And thanks to the progression of years, they've now complete their Long March through the Institutions and have tenure, and respectability..." 

- Tarpley on the Post-Modernists of Rockefeller Univeristy and the the Univeristy of Chicago, et al.

Shh! Yale's Skull and Bones Admits Women

By DENNIS HEVESI
Published: October 26, 1991

Shrouding their deliberations in a silence worthy of the nation's most famous secret society, members of Yale University's Skull and Bones -- Bonesmen all since 1832 -- voted Thursday night to allow Boneswomen into their midst.

And with that vote, a group that lists on its honor roll President Bush, Senator David L. Boren and the conservative columnist William F. Buckley Jr. can no longer rightly be considered just a "good old boy" network.

More than 125 members, many of them elderly and requiring assistance on the stairs, had squeezed past reporters Thursday afternoon, making their way into the hulking, windowless, mausoleum-like building on the New Haven campus that serves as clubhouse for the 159-year-old society. There are over 700 living Skull and Bones alumni; those who could not attend were permitted to vote by proxy.

Throughout the evening, clusters of Bonesmen emerged from the building, slipped silently through the clamoring reporters, and caucused in nearby restaurants and bars before returning to the weighty matter at hand -- whether six women should be allowed among the 15-member 1992 delegation. 'A Little Overdue'

But the debate and ballot-counting dragged through the night and into the early hours yesterday before members began drifting out of "The Tomb," still declining to discuss the outcome.

It was only later yesterday, when William Prout, a lawyer for the Russell Trust Association, the Skull and Bones corporation, was asked if women had been admitted, that the decision was disclosed, with one word -- "Yes."

More than two dozen Bonesmen contacted yesterday refused to comment, maintaining the society's legendary code of secrecy.

The vote clears the way for initiation of the six women and nine men who were chosen last April by the 1991 delegation, in defiance of the society's alumni board.

"It's great, but it's a little overdue," said one of the six women, who asked not to be identified. Told that the proposition had passed by a bare majority, the woman said she would have to think long and hard about whether to join a club where nearly half the membership still prefers to exclude women. "At least it's a symbolic thing," she said. Bring On the Lawyers

When the 1991 delegation tapped the women last year, the alumni board changed the locks on the building and nullified the selection. In July, following months of wrangling, the alumni voted 368-to-320 to admit the women.

But just days before the new members were to be inducted in September, a group of disgruntled alumni, including Mr. Buckley, questioned the wisdom of shattering a bastion of male bonding. They alleged that the vote had been fraudulent and filed suit. Before the case came to trial, however, the factions decided to settle the matter with a new vote. Ira Grudberg, the attorney for Mr. Buckley's group, said yesterday that he did not know if the opponents would pursue further legal action.

Among those voting for admitting women was Senator Boren, a Democrat from Oklahoma. "I am sorry that it has taken so long to remove this final roadblock," he said. Anachronistic Refuge?

Members of Wolf's Head, the only remaining all-male secret society at Yale, said that its 800 members, including Yale President Benno C. Schmidt Jr., would receive ballots next week to decide whether their club should admit women next year.

Several Yale students, however, questioned the relevance of secret societies. "It's embarrassing that this is what Yale has gotten the most media attention for in the last year," said Matthew Gaul, a senior.

"It's wonderful and good that the secret societies are admitting women," Mr. Gaul continued, "but they're still only an extension of an elitist philosophy of social life that has no place at Yale."

Photos: The symbol of the Skull and Bones club includes the year, B.C., of the death of Demosthenes, according to one theory (pg. 21); The mausoleum-like Skull and Bones clubhouse in New Haven where members voted to admit women. (Associated Press) (pg. 24)