Yale University’s “Skull and Bones Society,” an elite secret club, has all sorts of conspiracy theories that swirl around it. Sen. John Kerry and former President George W. Bush are members, or “Bonesmen,” as they’re called. President Barack Obama is not a member but Austan Goolsbee, his former top economic adviser, is and he met with a group of Bonesmen last year.

What was the meeting about? It‘s not public information and it doesn’t look like we’ll be finding out. Goolsbee won’t talk about it and neither will the members who attended the meeting.

From BuzzFeed:

The secret society doesn’t release the names of its members, referred to as “Bonesmen,” but the Ivy League gossip blog IvyGate regularly has the roster leaked to them. Cross-checking their list with the White House visitor log on March 4 reveals that at least eight members of the 2010-2011 class were present at the Goolsbee meeting.

According the White House records, the students met with Goolsbee in room 234 of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at around 4:00 p.m., proceeded to a tour of the White House, and then returned their I.D. badges by 5:00 p.m.

[...]

BuzzFeed e-mailed Goolsbee, who left the White House last June and returned to the University of Chicago, to find out.

He responded with this parenthetical reference to the society‘s tradition of requiring that its members walk away from any conversation in which it’s invoked.

“(sound of people leaving the room),” Goolsbee emailed.