Innocents Society

The Innocents Society is the Chancellor's senior honorary society at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, composed of 13 men and women who apply during the spring of their junior year and are selected on the basis of academic excellence, unparalleled leadership, and selfless service to the University and community. Members are known throughout campus, but the society still retains secrecy through rituals and a secret meeting room. Members work to promote school spirit and create an appreciation among the student body of the greater values for which Nebraska stands.

The society was founded on April 24, 1903, through the efforts of notable University of Nebraska alumni, including George Condra and Roscoe Pound, a famous legal scholar who would later become dean at Harvard Law School. Pound and Condra drew on medieval customs of knighthood, as well as papal traditions, in forming the ritual and heraldry of the society. They named the society for the 13 Popes named Innocent, who have historically stood as champions against evil. The Mephistopheles head represents the evil the society seeks to overcome.

During their early years, the Innocents Society selected the UNL cheerleaders, supervised an annual Olympics between the freshmen and sophomores, and planned Dandelion Day and Fete Day. Another tradition that started was that of the Victory Bell exchange. A bell was stolen from a Seward, Neb. church in 1892 by members of Delta Tau Delta and Phi Delta Theta fraternities. For years, the fraternities competed in athletic and scholastic competitions for possession of the bell. However, in 1926 it was suggested that an award for the winner of the Nebraska-Missouri football game be established. It was decided that the bell be awarded to the winner, and it was engraved with a "M" on one side and an "N" on the other. The bell tradition ceased with the University of Nebraska's entrance to the Big Ten Conference, making the 106th class of the Innocents Society the last to trade (and keep) the oldest trophy in collegiate football. In 2011, 107th class of the Innocents Society began a new trophy exchange with the University of Iowa.

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