I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the 1540, Loyola’s secret society dedicated to performing “good works” for the school and upholding the Jesuit ideals that it holds dear.

I do not know of any current student who is a member, nor do I have even a clue what position of leadership they may hold in other organizations. I have never had the privilege of receiving correspondence from 1540. In fact, by making my opinion on the matter known, I will have probably blacklisted myself from ever gaining membership into or receiving tokens of appreciation from this society.

1540 was created in 1997 by Chris Cameron, who was then Vice President of Student Affairs. The organization’s intention was to keep choice individuals in powerful positions under the guise of being a good works organization.

Throughout the years, little news has ever been leaked about the society apart from a corruption case in 2009 in which two SGA justices had to resign upon being charged after being exposed as members of 1540.

Not much is really known about the society aside from what they decide to reveal to the public — which usually takes the form of mooching off the Maroon for free advertisement, the occasional token of appreciation in chalk writing ,and letters to prominent members of the Loyola community, including a mix of student representatives and faculty members.

Supposedly, the society has paid for past Awakening retreats, but this is something I’m not able to prove or disprove because there’s frankly no way to check, unless the society has financial records they’d like to release. It is said that 1540 has also paid for a student’s plane ticket home, although it is rumored that that student was just a close friend of the organization. This forces me to question the “altruism” 1540 claims to have as its core value

The intention of this article is twofold. Firstly, I hope 1540 is motivated to actually do something beyond writing an anonymous note signed with a cryptic, even pretentious “We are who you think we are. We are who you think we are not.”

More importantly, I want students to be motivated to demand accountability from the organization or else call for its removal from campus.

Organizations like 1540 are neither necessary nor beneficial to small schools like tLoyola. We are 3,000 students strong, and our SGA has enough trouble getting student participation and interest as it is.

The presence of a secret society on such a small campus only causes a concern for corruption because this group could potentially gain, if it doesn’t already have, a lot of power on campus. Unchartered organizations like 1540 create an internal hierarchy within the school that corrupts the democratic process by which Loyola SGA and other chartered organizations are run.

A secret society shouldn’t be allowed on campus because it doesn’t have any sort of accountability factor — we don’t know who they are, what they do, and how much influence they have over campus affairs.

So Loyola, I’m urging you. Join the fight to take down 1540 for good. Their secret ways only inhibit the political process and their good works seem to be more about appearances than real action. Really, how does writing creepy notes and lurking in secret really represent the Jesuit ideals anyway?