New group wonders if Druids will mind sharing name

When Ben Johns decided to start a new leadership organization, he needed a name with pizzazz. … When Ben Johns decided to start a new leadership organization, he needed a name with pizzazz.

The senior and Delta Tau Delta brother needed a name that could potentially gain tons of campus interest and bring in the best of campus leaders.

“Druids,” he figured, would do the job.

“I want to use that brand name to attract new people,” he said.

But the use of the Druid name has sparked controversy. The Druids were — and possibly still are — Pitt’s secret leadership society, with Student Government Board members, Greek organization presidents and other campus bigwigs rumored to hold positions within the invitation-only membership body.

Johns, however, wants to use the name without the tradition. He has proposed an open membership.

“This would not be a secret society,” Johns explained. “I don’t think there should be cloaks and daggers anymore. It should be recognized.”

“Leadership should have a face,” he added.

Johns followed the standard procedure for forming a Pitt-recognized group by putting in an application at the Student Organization Resource Center, but he felt some “animosity” when he submitted it.

Student Life administrator Terrence Milani, who oversees SORC, currently has the application for the new Druids organization. Milani explained that Student Life is carefully investigating the history of the Druids on campus, and also outside the University, to see if the Druids name may be used for this new group.

Milani explained that students could form organizations on their own, but without University recognition, they are unable to receive benefits from the University, such as allocations and office space. In order to have University recognition, a student group must list three officers and 10 members.

The Druids became a secret society in 2000 after SORC changed the recognized group requirements to include listing the names of members and officers. Druid membership was openly acknowledged in the 1960s, when the group acted as a more open presence on campus.

A copy of the revised Constitution filed by the Druids in 1967 makes no mention of its being a secret society, stating that the organization’s aims “shall be to recognize and propagate among the undergraduate men of the University of Pittsburgh those ideals of leadership, scholarship, service and character, which denote the outstanding student.”

Student Life has to investigate the connection between the new group and any pre-existing Druid groups on campus and find out whether or not the original Druids are associated with the new group.

There is also the issue of whether the Druid name can legally be used.

“The question is if, in fact, the Druids have a claim to that name, like a trademark, can a new organization use the name?” Milani said.

If the name “Druids” is already being used for a national organization, then the new group cannot use it, he explained.

The group’s 1967 constitution calls the Pitt organization the “Delta Chapter,” and in a Feb. 12, 1997 allocations request, the Druid organization asked for money “to meet with other Druid chapters for mutual enlightenment and to be nationally recognized.”

A group calling itself the Druids announced its return to Pitt’s campus in a press release sent to The Pitt News on Oct. 31, 2004. Shortly thereafter, they awarded two Cathedral Fountain Scholarships to sophomores Jennifer Anukem and Alex Capece.

Recently, the same group awarded a Sophomore of the Year award — an award given to sophomore men in the 1960s for excellence in leadership — to sophomore Emily Guzan. The group claiming to be the original Druids announced the award in an E-mail sent from the address pittdelta@gmail.com. In the e-mail, sent to Pitt News Editor in Chief Greg Heller-LaBelle, the correspondent from the pittdelta address wrote that the organization was offering the award “as part of our revival and return to campus.”

The original Druids were last seen in public during a march through Hillman Library and the Cathedral of Learning in April 2002.

SGB President Brian Kelly, who is often rumored to be a Druid because of his position as SGB president, has denied participation in the secret society on numerous occasions. His hypothesis is that the real Druids no longer exist and that a group of students who wish to fill the footsteps of the Druids has emerged.

“‘Get a life’ was one thing I would say to them,” Kelly said.

But Johns said that his new Druid group was not responsible for any of the awards. He said that the original Druid group had the same opportunity to certify the Druid name with SORC and did not take it.

“I want this to be a public organization,” Johns said.

Johns and his group have to wait and find out whether the new Druids group can be certified, and Milani said the group’s pending certification is not a time-sensitive issue, because student groups are not usually very active in the summer.

He added that Student Life wants to thoroughly investigate both the internal and external issues to ensure the certification is legal.

“It’s not like they’re waiting in the wings to do something,” Milani said.

Milani said he had not yet talked to Johns, but the investigation into the Druids history is underway.

“I’m not going to make any judgments on what my decision would be,” Milani said.