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Innate to IN8

Closed lips and open hearts guide members of Madison’s secret society

Story by Kelly Jasper

Curio Magazine, May 2006

Ask about the Madison statue. Ask about the financial gifts. Ask about any generous donation the university receives and a string of praise and press releases will follow. But don’t ask about the sundial.

Just east of the Quad, the sundial marks the end of a long walkway that joins the stone plaza with the James Madison statue. In the base of flowerbeds surrounding the feet of Madison, a plaque identifies the statue’s donors. But without a similar plaque at the sundial, identifying its donors gets tricky.

Ask around in the university’s Office of Media Relations. Although they’ll take the time to check, there’s no press release to find. Business Services will try, but they say there’s not much to tell. Give the school’s spokesman a go and Andy Perrine will tell you he’s not much help either. But students are. Ask them and you’ll find answers — because students are, after all, the donors of the gift.

They call themselves IN8. Good luck figuring out why. It’s all a part of the mystery that this secret society of students values. Every year, maybe every semester (no one will quite say when), students unite in the name of thankless service and humble dedication.

It’s impossible to say just how many members of the reticent order (pronounced “innate” by some, “I-N-eight” by others) exist. Some speculate that eight might, but the group prefers to keep that, too, a mystery.

IN8’s alumni will, however, sing the praises of the individuals whom the society aims to recognize by donating their time, money and thanks to those they think make Madison, Madison.

“It’s all about service and recognizing the students, faculty and community members who contribute to JMU,” says former IN8 member Tom Culligan.

The secrecy, he says, is not just for secrecy’s sake.

“It’s one of the unique things about IN8,” says Culligan, a 2005 graduate and former student body president. “It’s really a way to focus on the individuals who are being recognized and honored, rather than focusing on those doing the recognizing and honoring.”

Secret Service
LIKE CULLIGAN, IT ’S only as an alumna of the society that former member Lyndsey Walther-Thomas will talk. A 2004 graduate, she won’t discuss when or how she joined IN8.

“There’s a lot we can’t talk about, that we don’t want to talk about,” says Walther-Thomas, now a second-year graduate student at the University of South Carolina.

With so many questions unanswered — Who started IN8? How do you join? Can you leave it? What happens if you spill its secrets? — IN8’s history remains a mystery.

Mark Warner has a few guesses.

“I have assumptions,” says the senior vice president for student affairs. Warner has been the society’s contact in the university’s administration since the group was formed. He was never told why the society is named IN8, but says he has a theory.

“The ‘N’ is for infinity. The ‘8’, I think, is for 1908, as a centennial-type thing,” he says. Because the university was founded in 1908, Warner says, he thinks it’s “their way of saying ‘JMU forever.’”

It’s hard to say, given that Warner is contacted only once a year. In the spring, he’s called to participate in the society’s induction.

The details are few and far between.

Some years Warner gets a phone call. Other years he’s met in person. With each interaction, he’s given a letter and told to go to a specific location, where he meets a handful of people who also got letters requesting their presence. Fly-by-night, the letter is passed to those who will become the newest members of IN8.

Year after year, students return to Warner for help. He says he’s one of few in the administration who is even aware that the organization exists.

And that’s probably all for the best. The society’s service, after all, is meant to be secret.

“You have to remember that the point of it all is to recognize people dedicated to making JMU a better place,” says Walther-Thomas. “There’s purpose in it.”

As class president from her freshman to her junior years, Walther-Thomas used her time at Madison to initiate programs such as Purple Out (a school spirit campaign) and the fund raiser Up ’til Dawn. She was a senator with the Student Government Association, an Orientation Program Assistant and a recipient of the university’s prestigious All Together One and Carrier awards. In her final year at JMU she co-founded SafeRides, a designated driver campaign offering students a safe and free ride home.

Even with all of her achievements, Walther-Thomas was just one of the society’s impressive members. Her peers pursued different routes to service, making their marks in ways as unique as the organization itself. Some, like Walther-Thomas, are well-known campus leaders. Others are rarely seen, having instead chosen to toil behind the scenes. With different passions and pursuits to distinguish each member’s legacy, the society’s alumni say just two attributes unite IN8’s members.

First, says Walther-Thomas, “Every person was different. There was no stereotypical member, except for the fact that we each loved JMU.”

And second? Each, of course, can keep a secret.

“Secrets breed rumors,” says Walther-Thomas, “and I hear a lot of rumors.” She says the rumors sometimes center on the makeup of the group or how its members are initiated. “People have all sorts of different ideas.”

While some are entirely off base, others are dead-on. And that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.

“What we want people to know, they know,” she says. “The only things we’d feel comfortable discussing are things that any student could already know. Everything else has always been a secret.”

The first time Culligan heard of IN8, its secrecy created a lot of buzz. “This was my freshman year, before I was a member,” he says. “They gave a gift to kick off the Senior Class Challenge.”

That monetary donation stirred up information that Culligan said piqued his interested in the organization. “The more I learned, I came to understand and really respect the mission of IN8,” he says. “I think from the very beginning you can see very clearly that the goals and actions and intentions of it are great.”

Still, to some, that secrecy comes off as sensational. “They’re skeptical,” Walther-Thomas said. “They could think we’re up to no good.”

But despite intermittent criticism, Walther-Thomas swears the privacy has a purpose — IN8’s mystery is its key to success. “We want to thank people who do good things for the university. When we do recognize people, we want to make sure the focus is on them. That’s the real reason why we don’t talk about the group.”

Going Public
WITH THAT SAID, the society doesn’t always resort to secrecy. The sundial, for example, was supposed to be an obvious gift from the organization. After all, a 6-inch IN8 logo is permanently embedded in the sundial’s design.

Third stone from the left, an infinity symbol surrounding the letters “I” and “N” is carved into a metal marker, just like the Roman numerals used to tell time on the arc of the sundial. If you know what to look for, the logo is easy to spot. But for hundreds, maybe thousands, of students who cross the sundial’s surface each day, the logo is practically invisible.

Years ago, explains Walther-Thomas, the Quad was the original home of a JMU sundial. Replacing it was “a tribute to JMU’s history.”

That’s when IN8 came to Warner. The gift was approved with the administration, but first underwent a few changes.

Initially, the group aimed to replace the original sundial. “They planed on buying a small sundial and putting it in front of Jackson or Harrison. But one of them got a bright idea.”

That individual was Russell Hammond, a 2003 graduate who Warner thinks was a founding member.

Hammond had a knack for working with his hands — he forged the sundial’s metal himself. He also was the first student to contact Warner.

“He was a great guy,” Warner said. “All of the individuals are. They have made an indelible impact on this institution. And by being under the name IN8 … they’re not seeking recognition. I think that means more.”

And although the society donated the sundial and has contributed a number of financial gifts, IN8 hopes its greatest influence is through the individual letters the society delivers each semester.

Senior Angela Cangemi received a letter from IN8 in the spring of her junior year. “It was at the peak of my involvement at JMU,” says Cangemi, who participated as a Make Your Mark on Madison counselor, an Orientation Program Assistant and committee member and team captain with Relay for Life. The letter appeared in a white envelope with her name typed on the front.

“It seemed so very shady,” she recalls. “I hadn’t been home all day. My roommates were like, ‘Angela, you had a scary-looking letter taped on the outside of the door.’”

Though she had heard of the society, Cangemi says she never expected the letter. “I read it, and it said something like, ‘We’ve been observing all of your involvements. We just want to thank you.’ Then it named all of my achievements. It looked like someone I knew. And I realized that I could know all eight members and wouldn’t even know.”

And while Cangemi says she is curious to know who sent the letter, receiving it was more than enough. “I’m not actively looking,” she says, “but I know they’re actively involved in showing their appreciation. It makes you feel like someone is recognizing you, and that’s kind of rewarding.”

With so many people to thank, Walther-Thomas says the society also aims its thanks at organizations. As a Homecoming tradition, the coordinators of Sunset on the Quad always read a letter written by IN8. Letters also are written for the Senior Gala and for the Senior Class Challenge.

Homecoming also marks one of IN8’s most prized traditions. “Each year we pass out journals,” says Walther-Thomas. Each of the eight black, bound notebooks is passed to a JMU student with a story to tell.

“They’re given to people who have exceptional experiences we’d like to record,” says Walther-Thomas. Inside each book, instructions request that the recipient record his or her favorite JMU memories and then pass the journal to someone they feel is deserving of recording them. Once the books have circulated through eight pairs of hands, they are to be mailed back to a post office box downtown.

Senior Dan Dunlap received a book his junior year. About midnight, on a day around Homecoming in the fall semester of 2004, his phone rang. A nondescript female voice gave him instructions which would later lead him to what he thinks was one of the first IN8 journals ever circulated.

“I had to go find it,” he says. “I got up right then to go get it, even though it was midnight. I found it in a little bag in that graveyard on Route 33.”

He’s quick to add that the notebook was left by a pillar at the cemetery’s entrance.

“They’re good people. They didn’t want me trespassing.”

As he understands it, Dunlap says the journals are usually just passed person to person. But being the first to receive this particular journal, he had to pick it up. Dunlap, who was once president of Delta Chi fraternity and an SGA senator, filled 20 pages of that journal before passing it along to a mentor of his, Brian Nido, former SGA vice president of student affairs.

“I really respect what they do,” Dunlap says. “People really interested in true leadership aren’t really looking to draw attention. They hit the nail on the head.”

Graduate student Krissy Schnebel agrees. She received a journal two years ago.

“It asked what made me so passionate for the things I’ve done at JMU,” says Schnebel, who also was an avid member of the SGA. The 2005 graduate received national attention for her campaign to protect student choice after the university’s Board of Visitors voted to ban distribution of emergency contraceptive pills on campus. She also cofounded SafeRides with Walther-Thomas and was an Orientation Program Assistant. When she became a Student Ambassador, Schnebel led tours of prospective students through campus.

“I would stop at the sundial and explain about the secret society,” she said. “That was before I ever expected to actually receive anything from them.”

Schnebel also received a letter. Typed on yellow paper and sealed in purple, the letter thanks her for the gifts she’s given the community. “I was on my way to practicum and it was taped to my front door,” says Schnebel. “I read it in my car, and it was just the greatest gift to get.”

Today, the letter hangs on her bedroom wall. The journal Schnebel received was passed along soon after she finished the six or seven pages she wrote.

“I was the sixth person to get that journal and was able to read their stories,” she says. “I wrote pages and pages and put in some photographs of the people I had written about.”

Schnebel was given the journal by a friend who approached her during an on-campus a cappella concert. “It was wrapped up like a little gift. She said it was something very important to her, and she wanted me to have it,” says Schnebel. “She said not to open it up until I got home, but I couldn’t wait. I walked into the bathroom and I opened it and was flipping through it and had no idea what it was. It took me a minute before I reached the front page, which is where IN8 put directions that explained what the journal was. Then I just absolutely freaked out. I was totally honored and humbled.”

Schnebel passed the book along to her roommate, one of her closest friends — Walther-Thomas.

As a member, Walther-Thomas was unable to write in it and just passed it along instead.

“I had no idea she was actually a member,” recalls Schnebel. “But knowing Lyndsey and the type of person she is, I wasn’t surprised.”

Walther-Thomas says she was flattered. “It was amazing to read … People included really neat stories and pictures and memories in those journals.” Those journals, she adds, are just one of the rituals that give IN8 its rich tradition.

Thankless
WITH MORE DETAILS she can’t say than can, Walther-Thomas is hesitant to discuss any “internal workings” of the society, like its initiation process and organization. But she does let on that IN8 members like to carry on the traditions of its past.

“At graduation we can reveal to people that we were a part of IN8,” she said. With all of her achievements, few were overwhelmingly surprised. “But people would definitely ask about it.”

They’ll especially ask about her tattoo, something she says “a lot of alumni have” (although Culligan says he doesn’t).

Walther-Thomas’s family and friends found out when she showed them the infinity sign of the IN8 logo, the same marking set in the sundial, which she had tattooed on her lower back.

For Walther-Thomas, it’s a way for the experience to stay with her. “It was an honor to be a part of such an influential group that was dedicated to making JMU a better place. I won’t forget it … It was an honor.”

And while Walther-Thomas says she won’t forget about IN8, through IN8 she forgot about herself. Humility, it seems, is just as innate as the society’s secrecy and service — given freely and discreetly, and all without a “thank you.”