Innocents: Members

The Innocents Society was announced in the Daily Nebraskan on April 24th, 1903. Roscoe Pound, one of the guiding forces behind the establishment of the Innocents Society, was a dean at the University at the time and went on to become the dean of the Harvard Law College. It was after the societies of Harvard and Yale that the Innocents Society was modeled. The tackling tradition, among other things, was established based on the traditions of these Ivy League groups. Pound characterized the purpose of the Innocents as this: “to advance University interests at every possible point; to furnish a compact corps of harmonious workers, where college spirit and enthusiasm might be generated; to give a body of men who would be pledged to put their shoulders to the wheel in all University undertakings; to be a guiding central body to lead in those things that fail in the University of Nebraska because, being left to the student body in general, the old maxim applies, ‘What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business.’”

1903-1947

The University of Nebraska campus was quite small in the early 1900s, and the Innocents were responsible for coordinating several campus events. They conducted the Freshmen Convocation at the beginning of each year to introduce new students to the ideas and conceptions about student life and initiate them into the Cornhusker traditions. Beginning in 1909, they supervised an annual Olympics between the sophomores and freshmen. They sponsored the Junior-Senior prom each year, and attendance at the Innocents pre-party dinner was a highly regarded social honor. Around 1930, the Innocents created a Homecoming decoration contest for fraternities and sororities, and for many years judged and selected the winners.

The Innocents, staying true to their goal of promoting school spirit, were involved heavily in athletic events. The Innocents founded the yell squad in 1903. They selected its members from the men of the sophomore class and trained them as well. The Innocents led the football rallies before each game, planned the Cornhusker banquets that were held at the end of each football season, ushered and checked IDs at football games, and in the 1910s helped the University to acquire an athletic field. In 1930, the Innocents were responsible for the national recognition the football rooting section received for being one of the best in the country. The Innocents oversaw halftime entertainment at football games, including stunts and beginning in 1933, the color card section.

A significant tradition that began during this time was the Missouri-Nebraska bell exchange. The bell dates back to 1892, when it was taken from a church in Seward by members of Phi Delta Theta and Delta Tau Delta. At the time, the members of the two fraternities occupied the same house. When the two groups moved into separate houses, there was a dispute over who should keep the bell. Annual scholastic or athletic contests were held, with the bell being used as a trophy. This rivalry abated, yet still the ownership of the bell was left in question. In 1926, the athletic director at Missouri, Chester D. Brewer, suggested an annual award be established for the annual Missouri-Nebraska football game. The bell was selected to be the prize to end the conflict between the fraternities, and an ‘M’ and an ‘N’ were engraved on opposite sides of the bell. The exchange was coordinated by the Innocents Society and Missouri’s prestigious Q.E.B.H. Society. Missouri won the first game in 1927 7-6, and the scores from the games are engraved on the bell stand until 1954.

The Innocents Society also administered one of the oldest traditions at the University, the distribution of freshman beanies (caps). The beanies were originally green, were changed to red in 1932, and bore the year of graduation for the incoming class on them. Beanies were worn until Homecoming Day, at which time an annual tug-of-war took place between the freshmen and upperclassmen. If the freshmen won, which they traditionally did, they were allowed to discard their caps.

The Innocents Society also involved itself in activities to better the University and community. They helped to set up a Student Council at UNL, the predecessor to today’s ASUN. In 1938 they devised an extracurricular activity point system for men, which assigned each office or activity a specific point value. Men were prohibited on carrying more than a certain amount. The Innocents also helped immensely in both war efforts.
Early in the century, the Innocents would only appear once each year in their robes on Ivy Day to tackle their new members. Thousands of people witnessed the ‘climax’ of Ivy Day, which occurred annually when the new Innocents were tackled. The student newspaper, referred to as the rag, published ‘racing forms’ which predicted who the new Innocents and Mortar Boards would be before Ivy Day. In 1943, the new Innocents were tackled months early since it was believed that the draft would soon take these men away from the University. By the fall of 1943, all but one of these Innocents was overseas fighting in World War II. The remaining member single-handedly promoted the sale of freshmen caps and spoke at the freshman convocation in 1943. Tackling of new members was postponed until the semester following the end of the war. After the war, thirteen past Innocents re-established the Society, and new members were again tackled in 1947.

1947-1981

New activities embraced by the Innocents in this era included helping out with New Student week, sponsoring the annual Frosh Hop, and interviewing candidates for the title of Nebraska sweetheart. During the 1940s the Innocents began to wear identical jackets one day each week. The jackets had the Innocents emblem over the pocket and served to increase the visibility of the organization. This tradition was carried on until the early 1960s. The Innocents also began to award Scholarship-Activities trophies each year to three fraternities that displayed the greatest achievements in these areas. They supervised student elections and Homecoming Queen elections. They took part in a Speakers Bureau with Mortar Board which allowed them to speak across Nebraska to civic organizations, providing a student perspective on the University. In 1963 they helped out with the first Masters Week. They continued to give the Homecoming display awards, sell freshmen beanies, select the all-male yell squad, and usher at football games.

In 1951, the Innocents Society organized a Buffalo Head Exchange with the University of Colorado’s Heart and Dagger Society. The Heart and Dagger Society bought the buffalo head and had it mounted for $20. The buffalo came to be known as Mr. Chip, receiving its name from an ill-fated mascot from Colorado. The winner of the annual Nebraska-Colorado football game took home Mr. Chip. The last exchange was made in the fall of 1962. Nebraska won the game, but Colorado could not produce Mr. Chip because he had been permanently misplaced during their possession of him.

The year 1951 also saw what has come to be known as the ‘bugging incident.’ The mischevious Innocents were able to get equipment to bug Mortar Board’s selection meeting from the Union by telling the Union staff that the Kosmet Club needed a microphone with a long cord so they could tape off-sound noises. The Innocents put the microphone in Mortar Board’s selection room and placed the speakers in the Innocents meeting room. Towards the end of the selection meeting, the women of Mortar Board discovered the bug, traced it to the Innocents Room, and caught the men red handed. After the incident, one of the publications of the time called Corn Shucks, which was edited by a member of Innocents, printed an edited version of the Mortar Board meeting with and exact quotes from the meeting using different names.

In 1960, the Innocents protégé program was started. The program matched senior men at the University with Lincoln businessmen so that they would learn the practical side of their chosen occupation and become familiar with their future civic and social responsibilities. In 1963, the Innocents Society made a statement by placing a wrecked car on campus to promote safety. They also helped to install seat belts in students’ cars and advocated for a policy that would not allow parking permits to be issued to cars without seat belts.

During the 1970s, the Innocents were, like many students of the time, rebellious. They were not action oriented and rarely meet except to select new members. One of the most significant events of the decade was in 1976 when women were admitted to the group to comply with Title IX. The size of the group varied, having anywhere from eight to fifteen members. Traditions would be restored, though, in the coming years.

1981-2006

In 1981, the members of the Innocents Society focused on what they termed as revitalization of the organization. They went underground for two months because they felt that the Innocents Society had lost its focus and traditions. They met off campus and didn’t appear publicly as a group until they were more sure of what the Innocents Society was. They came out of this hiatus with a new vision for and understanding of the Innocents Society. This class of Innocents revived many of traditions that had been lost during the 1970s and brought the group back up to its high standards.

The Innocents of 2005-5006 have started a new tradition, one hoping to restore the selfless service aspect of the society's goals. They embraced a local charity directly connected with their class of Innocents, and hope that each future class of Innocents will do the same. Whether it is directly volunteering or raising funds to support the charity or cause of choice, each future class will continue to selflessly serve the community through this new tradition.

Thus, the Innocents Society has continued to lead the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in all aspects and promote school spirit into the 21st century. Year after year, it is made up of the top thirteen members of the senior class who work diligently to carry on the traditions and goals of the Innocents Society. The legacies left by Innocents past are incredible, and each class of Innocents continues to make their own unique impacts on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.