Every Korps has three orders of members, and three regular officers,
to each of whom, is assigned one department in the management of the
associations. The orders consist of two regular and one irregular. The
lowest and least important, is considered irregular, and those who are
not admitted further have no claim to anything but a place in the
drinking-hall, and the protection of the regular Korps. They may be men
of any age, but are generally students who are prevented from fighting
by some physical defect, or by the serious objection of their parents,
without whose consent no one is supposed to be admitted to the full
fellowship of the union.
The second order consists of novices, who are designated by the name of
'foxes.' The appellation is probably derived from the custom of playing
a kind of game, at the opening of the term, which is called the fox-
hunt, and in which the novices, riding astride of chairs, are made to
run the gauntlet through the 'fellows' who are armed with blackened
corks, and who, without moving from their places, attempt to smudge the
faces of the youngsters as they hop past. These 'foxes' are young
students who have just joined, and who are not admitted to the rank of
fellows until they have fought a certain number of times. They are
raised to the higher dignity after a ballot, at which they are not
present, and the term of probation generally lasts six months, or one
term.
The fellows, or Burschen, are full-fledged Korps students, eligible to
become officers.
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