Elihu Club or Elihu is the fifth oldest senior society at Yale University, New Haven, CT. It was founded in 1903 and takes its name from Elihu Yale.

History

The Elihu Club was founded by eleven students in 1903 as an "open senior society", rather than a secret society. At the time, this was considered in "variance with accepted traditions" at Yale and "an interesting democratic innovation." The first delegation of tapped members was from the class of 1904 and included Arthur Williams Allen, Edwin Clapp, Edward Chappel Ely, Thomas Robert Gaines, Chauncey Shafer Goodrich, Harry Thomas Hamilton, Charles Simonton McCain, Carleton Shaw, Henry Hamlin Stebbins Jr., George Frederick Victor Jr., and Paul Bessal Welles.

In October 1903, Elihu Club added six additional members from the class of 1904, including seniors Coleman Curtis, Everett Dominick, Harry L. Foote, Joseph H. Holmes, Lawrence Mason, and Robert L. Smitley. For the 1904 to 1905 academic year, the club rented the home of Mrs. Francis G. Beach on Wall Street.

In 1911, the club purchased a colonial-era house which looks out on the New Haven Green. It is considered a landed society because it owns a building on campus. Like the other societies, the organization's building is typically closed to non-members.

While similar to Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head societies in charter and function, Elihu favors privacy over secrecy and is considered a "left-wing" society. Because it allows all members of the junior class to interview for membership, the Yale Daily News notes that, "Elihu is considered to be less prestigious." In the spring of 1913, the sophomore class at Yale held a protest against secret societies; Elihu denied suspicions that it started the student protest.

Elihu's normal meetings are held each Thursday and Sunday of the academic year. Its activities are similar to that of the other landed senior secret societies: personal histories or biographies and perspectives are shared among the current delegates. Its programs also include topical essays on pertinent issues, personal bonding time, and group reflection activities.

By 1982, Elihu gained a reputation for admitting racial minorities. In May 1982, the fifteen members of Elihu refused to tap any new members because of a dispute with the alumni who wanted to start charging new members $350.

Starting in 2002, the club hosts the annual Elihu Yale Lecture which features notable speakers. The 2005 lecture was delivered by actor Sam Waterston, also an Elihu member. In May 1920, the club changed its recruitment policy and participated in Tap Day with the secret societies.

Starting as an all-male organization, Elihu now also has female members. Lieberman rejected Bones in favor of Elihu, whose building had windows. Jacob Weisberg, was offered membership in Skull and Bones by Senator John Kerry. Weisberg declined, citing Bones' exclusion of women. Weisberg was persuaded by Robert G. Kaiser to join Elihu instead.

Notable members

  • Henry Roe Cloud (1910) – educator, college administrator, and U.S. federal government official
  • Lloyd Cutler (1936) - White House Counsel
  • Alexander Garvin (1962) – urban planner
  • Rowland Hazard III (1903) – businessman and politician
  • Loyd Kaufman (1968) – film director
  • Robert G. Kaiser (1964) – journalist and author
  • Rufus King (1914) – novelist
  • Arthur Bliss Lane (1916) – diplomat
  • Jacques Leslie (1968) – author and journalist
  • Joseph Lieberman (1964) – United States Senator
  • Edward Lyman Munson (1892) – U.S. Army Medical Corps General
  • Newbold Noyes Jr. (1914) – journalist, newspaper editor, and publisher of the Washington Evening Star
  • David Shire (1959) – songwriter
  • Stuart Symington (1923) – United States Senator
  • John Templeton (1934) – investor, banker, fund manager, and philanthropist
  • In a March 2000 essay on Yale's societies, Jacques Leslie recalled learning he would be tapped for Skull and Bones. "I was leaning towards Elihu, the sole above-ground society that was headquartered in an actual frame house with windows." When the Bonesmen arrived to tap Leslie, he shouted "Reject!" The surprised expression on the Bonesman's face was printed on the following day's second front page of The New York Times with the caption "Skull was first but he chose Elihu."