If you are new member of Seven, this piece along with the rest of the series contains SPOILERS for some upcoming recruitment events. Also, shout out to the class of 2019!
NOTE: This piece is based on multiple interviews conducted from former Red Bones members and recruits from different years, as well as documents collected from additional sources. Names and dates have been removed from all documents.
A List
Immediately after the new Sophomore class is officially initiated into Seven, members begin making a list. It’s made up of names of current First Years; people who members have interacted with and left an impression. Although the list isn’t officially started until after the first initiation in November or December, members are constantly on the lookout for potential talent.
They continue making this list until October of the next year, after these First Years have become Sophomores. It starts with around 30-40 names. Members are encouraged to meet people who are on this long list. Each name on it typically requires at least three “interviews” with society members in order to be evaluated and considered for recruitment. Potential recruits do not realize they are being interviewed. Usually, the member who personally knows the potential recruit introduces them to another member. For example, if the member and potential recruit are having lunch, another member may “unexpectedly” drop by and join. Interviews are intended to look casual; potential recruits will not know they are in one.
By late September, early October, after each potential recruit has received their three interviews, that list drops from 30ish to around 12-15. That is when the recruitment process officially begins.
Immediately after the new Sophomore class is officially initiated into Seven, members begin making a list. It’s made up of names of current First Years; people who members have interacted with and left an impression. Although the list isn’t officially started until after the first initiation in November or December, members are constantly on the lookout for potential talent.
They continue making this list until October of the next year, after these First Years have become Sophomores. It starts with around 30-40 names. Members are encouraged to meet people who are on this long list. Each name on it typically requires at least three “interviews” with society members in order to be evaluated and considered for recruitment. Potential recruits do not realize they are being interviewed. Usually, the member who personally knows the potential recruit introduces them to another member. For example, if the member and potential recruit are having lunch, another member may “unexpectedly” drop by and join. Interviews are intended to look casual; potential recruits will not know they are in one.
By late September, early October, after each potential recruit has received their three interviews, that list drops from 30ish to around 12-15. That is when the recruitment process officially begins.
First communications
The first contact is a phone call. As many Red Bones members who are available that night gather together. Traditionally, they met in the infamous Seven house. However, after their society became more public over the past two years, they have abandoned the residence as a meeting and recruitment spot. Once members are all present, it’s time to begin calling the “pumpkins” (or, “goats,” as society members refer to recruits).
A Sophomore will receive the call from an unknown number in early October. If they pick up, they will hear an unfamiliar voice. Members are only allowed to call recruits who they have never met.
Everyone gets the same call:
“Hi (first name, last name). We’ve been watching you. A journey is about to unfold. Are you near your computer? You will be receiving an email.”
The email is normally sent from [email protected]. This year, it was sent from [email protected]. Some of details in the body of the email change each year.
A couple of days later, another email is sent from the same account.
That night, there's another communication. In past years, it was a phone call from an unknown number. In the call, a recruit is told they have seven minutes to get to the library and retrieve a book. They are given a call number.
However, after a number of mishaps where call numbers were heard incorrectly, this year, Red Bones took to email:
However, after a number of mishaps where call numbers were heard incorrectly, this year, Red Bones took to email:
Inside the library, Red Bones members wait on the first floor or in Whispers. They watch recruits enter the library and head to their book. Once recruits find the book they need (which often takes much longer than seven minutes), there’s a letter waiting inside of it.
If recruits take too long to leave the library, members on the first floor send a second email:
Once a recruit has left Olin, the next one is called.
The Mirror
Two days later, recruits who emailed their commitment to [email protected] receive another email. The process of “The Mirror” begins:
The purpose of the Mirror is to gauge a recruit’s process of “self-reflection.” As shown above, some of these questions sound silly; some are philosophical; all are intended to provoke intensely personal responses. Some questions change each year. Recruits are given a week to email a digital and mail a print response in.
Red Bones will strike names from responses and distribute them among members to be evaluated anonymously. After another week or so, members regroup to make the next round of cuts. Names of recruits are re-assigned to their corresponding Mirrors. Members sit in a room with their laptops and individually rank recruits on an “intensity” rating.
After their individual rankings are made, each recruit is discussed. Their Mirrors are nitpicked and recruits’ personal experiences are put under a microscope. Members who are familiar with recruits will bring in outside information, sometimes in favor and sometimes against a recruit. This is not only a personality analysis; things like mental illness, identity, and personal history are taken into account during this round. Things that were not necessarily written about nor mentioned in the Mirror response are included as part of this discussion and evaluation.
Members continue to discuss recruits until a unanimous decision is made as to who makes it into the next step, and who gets cut.
The hearing
A couple of weeks after the Mirror is sent in (around late October), recruits are notified of their status. If they are rejected, they receive an email such as this one:
If they are accepted, [email protected] sends them further instructions.
The next day, recruits are sent another email, which reads:
The email is sent 10-20 minutes before a recruit has to be at the Hobbit Hole. They do this to prevent recruits from bumping into one another. The map attached points toward the entrance to the Wydown neighborhood, near the Alumni House on the South 40.
Once they arrive at this location, someone comes out of hiding from behind a tree, wall, etc. The member who comes out is wearing a bright red mask with the mouth and eyes cut out. The member will approach the recruit, greet them by name, and ask, “Are you continuously committed?”
If a recruit responds yes, they are blindfolded and asked to get into a car parked nearby. Recruits are driven around for fifteen minutes with loud music blasting in order to disorient the recruit. The ride ends in an undisclosed location within close proximity to campus.
Once they make it to their destination, the blindfolded recruit is led down to a basement. When recruitment was held in the former Seven house, there were two rooms: one big room, and one smaller one. Recruits are seated facing a wall; behind them are two members, usually one man and one woman. Recruits are told they can take off their blindfolds but cannot turn around. The room is filled with candles; the only people in it are the recruit and the two members. None of the members who interact directly with a recruit have ever met them before. This, with the added security of masks and robes, protects members’ identities.
On the other side of the wall, the rest of the members listen in. Hearings are recorded so that members who were not present can look them over later. Recruits are not told their Hearings will be recorded.
The first question asked is always “Why are you here?”
Responses to this question are not taken seriously. The only thing a recruit is not supposed to say is “I don’t know” (as specified in rule number one). Regardless of the response, recruits are shamed for their answers, both in person through intimidating reactions from interviewers, and behind their backs, in a GroupMe between members.
Throughout this entire period, there’s an ongoing group message in which members discuss, analyze, and mock responses in real time. Recruits are facing the wall as their interviewers exchange messages on their phones with members in the next room.
The next few questions are asked based on Mirror responses. They are personalized for each individual ahead of time. At some point, recruits will be asked to do something, like recite a poem or sing a song -- any arbitrary thing to make for more light-hearted teasing on the group message.
The mocking portion of the Hearing continues with a strange question. It is not consistent each year, but one of the most common strange questions asked is “Do you think of yourself as a pubic hair or toenail?” This question is usually incorporated in the Mirror questions, making it seem like a genuine answer is expected. Once again, this becomes a point of teasing.
The interview portion of the Hearing is rounded off by returning to the first question asked: “Why are you here?”
After the question is answered, one of the interviewers will say “You’re here because you’re fucking sweet. Say it.” After a recruit says it, they are asked to say it again louder, and again, louder, until they are screaming it.
The interview ends with a “Thank you.” Recruits remain seated as they are blindfolded, lead out of the basement, and driven around for another 15 minutes. They are dropped off in front of Brookings.
A masked member drops the recruit off in front of Brookings, and tells them to take off the blindfold and count to 100 before they turn around. Before the member leaves, they say, “Thank you for your time tonight. Brookings will never look the same.”
The car heads to the Hobbit Hole to pick up the next recruit.
The Dialogue
In general, recruits who have made it to this point will be initiated into the society. However, sometimes, one or two people are dropped after the final round, known as the Dialogue, well into recruitment.
In early November, recruits who are still being considered receive a new task:
Immediately after the package is picked up and the recruit notifies them, a second email is sent explaining the contents:
In addition to the large packet of quotes called the “Manuscript,” the package contains a wine glass, and a miniature bottle of wine. Recruits are asked to drink the wine as they read through the packet, in preparation for what will be the Dialogue.
But before the Dialogue comes mischief.
But before the Dialogue comes mischief.
Recruits are asked to do something mischievous. There is nothing specific required of the act: it can be breaking into a building, pulling a prank, basically anything. However, it must be documented, and the documentation must be placed back in the Lab Sci locker where they picked up their Manuscript. The pieces of documentation are collected by members; this step is not used to evaluate recruits.
About a week or two later, another email is sent:
About a week or two later, another email is sent:
The night of the Dialogue, recruits receive a phone call in which they are instructed to go to a building with their Manuscript in hand. The location changes every year; it’s usually in a building with a large, open room, such as in the Women’s Building, Sever, or Brauer. These buildings are usually locked after 10pm. But, Red Bones has what they call “the rabbit” -- a master key into every building on campus. Campus police are notified ahead of every recruitment event on campus so that they will not interfere.
Once a recruit approaches a building, they are greeted by a figure in the same black robe and red mask outfit as in the Hearing. In the room, they are offered a glass of wine and sat down across from two members, usually one man and one woman, with whom the recruit has never interacted.
First, they talk about the manuscript, asking questions like, “What quotes from the Manuscript stood out to you?”
The Dialogue is much more intimate than previous recruiting events. Rather than an interview, it’s a conversation between the recruit and two members. All parties share deeply personal information, rather than just the recruit. After the Dialogue is over, the recruit is led out of the building.
The Class
Towards the end of November, the new class has already been decided. And now, it is time for the recruits to meet.
All of the recruits are told to go to Brookings Quad at 12:07am.
There are seven to nine recruits standing in the middle of an empty Brookings Quad, confused as to what is happening and why there are others around them.
One recruit receives a call. They are told to get the group together and play leap frog on the quad. From the windows between Ridgely and Dunker, Red Bones members watch them. There are society members stationed across campus at all of the points where recruits will be dragged throughout that night.
Then, another recruit is called. They are told to meet a masked and robed member and pick up a key from them. They are told that they cannot lose that key.
Another call to another recruit. They have to go to the Brown School. At the entrance of the building, a masked person walks them up to a conference room. In it, there is a list of things to do; they are supposed to be bonding activities and discussions. Also in the room is a handle of whiskey and some pretzels. They are left in the room for one to two hours.
Before they leave, they are given a single sharpie. They are told to each draw a “7” on their lower back, and that it must remain on their back for the next three weeks (until the first initiation); they are told that after it rubs or washes off, they can only draw on the 7 with that same sharpie. Recruits have to coordinate showers, clothing, and personal relationships, not only around hiding the “7” on their back, but also getting together as a group to redraw the “7” on their backs.
Recruits are told that any given moment, they could be stopped by a member on campus and asked to show the mark. However, it’s important to note that this is an empty threat. Members will continue to be anonymous to recruits until the night of the initiation, when Juniors will reveal themselves.
There’s another call: recruits are told to go back to Brookings Quad and head into the band pit. Once they arrive, there’s a pile of goofy clothing items: tutus, boas, oversized sunglasses -- that sort of thing. In another phone call, they are told to strip down to their underwear in November weather and put on the silly accessories. In the pit, there is also a disposable camera. They are told to go to the steps of Brookings and take pictures of themselves until the camera runs out of film.
While recruits are taking pictures, society members sneak into the band pit and steal their clothing.
Once recruits return to the pit and realize their clothes are gone, there’s another call: go to Duncker.
Once they make it into the classroom in Duncker, two masked members return the clothes to recruits and the camera is handed over. The photos will be developed later and kept by society members.
In the classroom, there’s a power point with the the seven rules of Red Bones.
- You are not allowed to not know.
- You do not get to make yourself wrong.
- Do what you say you are going to do.
- Always tell the truth.
- Go with your gut.
- There are no coincidences.
- Be that which you would become.
The recruits are asked to memorize the rules in that moment and recite them back to the two members. Mistakes are scolded and scrutinized.
For the final part of this night, recruits are walked over to Brown 100 by a masked member. Two masked members are on the balcony portion of the lecture hall, yelling a rehearsed speech. The member on the first floor who walked the recruits takes over. They end the night with four points:
- These are your brothers and sisters now.
- Don’t say hello in public.
- Don’t Facebook Friend each other.
- Walk home separately.
After giving their final warnings, the members say: “The safety of your brothers and sisters depends on it.”
Seven Initiation
After that night, the new recruit class begins meeting together in secrecy, under the direction of the Red Bones members. They are given several “tasks” in the form of letters. The first task is to fill out a note with the rules of the society.
There are a total of nine tasks given leading up to initiation. Each task involves discussion and the eight tasks following the first one are customized each year for each class, based on Mirror responses. The point of the tasks is to foster community and discussion among classes. It is also the beginning of a larger undertaking to create secret connections between individuals, and as a result, beginning the process of isolating recruits from their existing relationships.
In early December, the first initiation takes place. The group is told to meet by the Hobbit Hole. They are blindfolded, put into cars, and driven to a new locations, usually the basement of an apartment or house of a current member.
Here, through interactive exercises, recruits are taught the four pillars of Red Bones:
- Love
- Awareness
- Vision
- Passion
Two masked members facilitate each activity related to a pillar. After all core values are discussed, recruits are once again blindfolded and put into cars.
They are driven to a water tower on Grand Avenue in the Compton Hill Reservoir Park. All holding hands, they are led to the top of the tower. Their blindfolds are removed. Surrounding the recruits are all of the Juniors, masked and robed. In the mix is an older alum of Red Bones (usually someone who is at least in their 30s). Each Junior is assigned a speech on different subjects related to the society (i.e., one is on the meaning and importance of secrecy).
The night’s entertainment is highlighted by one specific, aggressive speech given each year. The speech involves yelling at recruits and telling them that they aren’t good enough; that they need to make something of themselves.
The alum huddles the recruits together, takes off their masks, and asks them all if everyone is doing okay.
After this, the circle regroups, and the Juniors introduce themselves. One by one, they remove their masks and introduce themselves, saying: “I was born into this world (first name, last name), I stand before you as your brother/sister.”
As Juniors reveal themselves, recruits react, and a friendly atmosphere looms over. Everyone hugs. Juniors tell the Sophomores that the Sevens they had to draw on their backs for three weeks was a joke. Each recruit is given a flat washer at the water tower and told that the name of the society they just joined is “Seven.”
The night of blindfolds, speeches, and washers ends with a late night dine between Juniors and the new recruits at Uncle Bill’s.
Meetings
Once their identities have been revealed to the new class, Juniors begin reaching out to the new members. Facebook friending and public hang outs between members who had not met before recruitment are still considered taboo, so most hangouts occur in private settings. Answers to the question “how did you all meet?” are planned beforehand, in case two previously unacquainted members are caught together in public.
Between the end of recruitment in December and mid February, new members receive anonymous phone calls and emails from their “Protectors.” A Protector is a Senior assigned to a Sophomore to help them through the membership process. It’s based on a mentor/mentee relationship, except where the mentee know nothing about the mentor, and the mentor knows everything about the mentee.
Before the semester ends, recruits are asked to create Gmail accounts to use exclusively with society members. These Gmail accounts give members access to all documents which pass through the society.
All members of Red Bones have a specific format to their email signature:
The second to last line will generally be a quote favored by the member, and the final line always reads “This Correspondence is Privileged and Private.”
During Winter Break, Sophomores are assigned to read Siddhartha and the Prophet. The basis of this society is not only in academia and philosophy, but in theoretical discussion. Members are asked to engage with issues which question human nature and humanity -- issues that apply to, but never address concrete events, in the WashU or St. Louis community.
Once the Spring semester begins, weekly meetings commence. The first month and a half of meetings are exclusively between Juniors and Sophomores. New members are taught about the recent history of the society, its self-defined role in the Wash U community, and the general functioning of the society.
Recruits are asked to attend every meeting. They are told to come up with a back up excuse if anyone asks where they are going. If a recruit misses meetings, they are not at risk of losing membership. However, they will receive emails, phone calls, and texts pressuring them to show up.
Recruits learn about the different positions within the society. There are six titles held in each class:
- Ambassador: Acts as the face of the society to existing contacts in administration and faculty
- Rule Seven Living: Makes sure the group is internally functioning well
- Magistrate: In charge of external relations to the WashU communities
- Security: In charge of planning initiation in the fall
- Counselor: Leads Junior and group meetings
- Sensei: In charge of recruitment
Every member holds a title, so some positions are shared between members of a same year. The position of Sensei is most often held by two members a year, usually one man and one woman. Titles are assigned to Juniors at the beginning of their Spring semester by the Senior class.
At a special meeting in February, the Seniors in Red Bones are first revealed to the new class, and Sophomores meet their Protectors. They introduce themselves one by one saying “I was born into this world (first name, last name). I stand before you as (Red Bones name), your brother/sister.”
A “Red Bones name” is a name self-selected and made official at the end of a society member’s Junior year, during the Sophomore’s Red Bones’ initiation. In March, Juniors are asked to come up with their new name. Note: this name is unrelated to the fake names used in Gmail accounts.
"Red Bones names" are announced by Juniors in March. In a cave in the Greensfelder County Park, Juniors one by one enter nude. There are two Seniors of the same sex there to listen. Each Junior tells the two Seniors in the cave their new name, why they chose it, and can continue to speak for as long as they want. Seniors are not allowed to interrupt or stop the Junior from speaking at any point. Once they are finished, the Junior exits the cave, and are thus, “reborn.”
Red Bones names become a new, earned identity in the society. Each year, members are rewarded for remaining in the society with new titles. At the end of Fall Sophomore year, they are a Seven society member. At the end of Spring Sophomore year, they are a Red Bones society member. In the beginning of the Spring semester of Junior year, they hold a specific title and position within their class. And towards the end of their Junior year, they are allowed an entirely new name.
Group Project
Red Bones is funded. Members pay dues of about $150 a year, in addition to a sum Juniors and Sophomores are also asked to pay retroactively for a Senior send-off, which takes place towards the end of the spring semester. Dues are designated to pay for activities, recruitment, and events, beginning with a class’s first assignment: the group project.
The goal of this event is to “foster community.” The assignment is purposefully vague; the community could be WashU, St. Louis, or even just the Seven community. One of the most public group projects in recent years took place in the Spring of 2014, when the new Seven initiates covered the Clock Tower on the South 40 and the George Washington Statue by Olin with black bags and questions.
This group project will be one of the biggest events that the society consistently has each year. The other notable event is the “Unsung Heroes” dinner, held at the Whittemore house, where society members anonymously honor faculty and administration whose hard work has made campus a better place.
After the Sophomore class has brainstormed and discussed their group project, they present their ideas to the Juniors and Seniors. Upperclassmen critique the specificities of their idea, and the effectiveness in this project’s ability to “foster community.” After suggestions are taken into account, the class sees through the project, which is their final step before the new class is officially initiated into Red Bones.
This group project is in line with Red Bones’ presence on campus. The society undertakes a fair amount of random projects, like putting bubble wrap outside of Olin during finals week and post it notes with a question lined up across the outside of the library. Red Bones also runs WUSTL Cowboy, a program where two people who have never met are anonymously “set-up” to meet at a specified public setting at a specified time (chosen by Red Bones), in order to strike up some sort of discussion between these two people -- while a society member watches them in the same place at the same time.
An important part of the group’s self-perceived power is in their ability to create connections. From creating well coordinated group dialogues that are designed to seem random, to bringing together strangers under their watch, Red Bones believes they are the invisible hand that regulates communities. Whether that power is actually existent, purely a self-glorifying image, or somewhere in between, is up for debate.
Red Bones Initiation
At the end of April the official initiation takes place. The point of having two initiations (the first “Seven,” the second “Red Bones”) is to reward recruits who see their membership out until the end of the year. Therefore, it is possible for someone to have been a former member of Seven, but not a member of Red Bones.
Before the meeting, Sophomores are asked to write on a sheet of paper about who they have become throughout this process. Some years, Sophomores are also asked to write their own oaths. However, more recently, members have provided Sophomores with standard issued oaths.
Sophomores meet their Protectors on campus. They walk together to one of the member’s houses. Outside, there’s a bonfire. Sophomores are told to throw their reflection letters into the fire. And then, for the last time, the new members are blindfolded.
Every member of Red Bones drives up to the Cahokia Mounds. Once they arrive, Sophomores remove their blindfolds, and are led up to the top of the mounds. As they walk, upperclassmen pause to ask questions about pillars and to take moments of self-reflection.
Once they get to the top, each Sophomore reads their oaths (or the oath given to them). They are told that the society they are in is “Red Bones,” not “Seven.” The name “Red Bones” is the ultimate symbol of secrecy in the society. Even if word spreads from initiates who dropped out early that there’s a society called “Seven” or if failed recruits put together the “7” motifs in their tasks and recruitment events, Red Bones members still hold the secrecy of their true identity.
The ceremony ends as each Sophomore is given a simple silver ring to be worn on their left hand middle finger (although most members don’t wear it at all). And in one of the most consistent traditions of Red Bones, they end the night/early morning with a group celebration at Uncle Bill’s.