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CHARACTERIZATION Corps are built upon the principle of Tolerance : No corps may endorse a certain political, scientific or religious viewpoint; additionally, all members are solely chosen by their personal character. Neither national, ethnic or social provenance play a role. ''Corpsstudenten'' (corps students) wear '' Couleur '' (colored stripes and caps) and practice ''mensuren'' , academic fencing with razor-sharp blades that can result in bleeding face wounds, the so-called ''Schmisse'' ( Smite s). The corps are organized in two federations, the '' Kösener Senioren-Convents-Verband '' (''KSCV'') and the '' Weinheimer Senioren-Convent '' (''WSC''). Together, they comprise roughly 170 corps throughout Germany and Austria . The corps usually bear names that reflect their former origin from certain German regions, such as ''Saxonia'' (Saxony) or ''Guestphalia'' (Westphalia). Formerly, when a distance of a few hundred kilometres between a student's home town and his university meant weeks of travel, students from the same part of Germany traveled together and formed some kind of "new family". The distance, plus the fact that they carried the money for a complete semester with them in a bag, might also explain why students began fencing, simply for self defence, for students and aristocrats were the only people allowed to carry arms. Like all ''Studentenverbindungen'', corps consist of two bodies: The active part contains all members, that still study and have duties for the corps, and are not part of the ''Altherrenschaft'', those who graduated. A fundamental idea is that older students should help their younger fellows, and this principle dominates the relationship between the two bodies. The former keeps the everyday business of the corps alive, organizes gatherings, keeps the ''Corpshaus'' (Corps House) in order. The ''Altherrenschaft'', graduated students with regular income, provides a financial background. This usually means quite cheap housing for the younger members among other things. The ''Altherrenschaft'' has the power to intervene in the business of the active members, typically to ensure the principles and spirit of their corps. The active body is headed by a panel of three ''chargierte'' (charged persons), who are elected by all active, full members at the beginning of each semester (or at the end of the former one). Their functions are called ''senior'', ''consenior'' and ''drittchargierter'' (meaning ''third charged person'', also named ''subsenior'' in some corps).:
Being the oldest and noblest of their kind, the corps tend to treat all other forms of German studentenverbindung with contempt; corps despise all mannerism and affectedness (e.g. the overly use of Latinism s) that other kinds of ''studentenverbindung'', esp. Catholic corporations and Burschenschaft s show. This does not mean, that they understand other corporations as their natural-born enemies. This might happen occasionally, but also vice versa. Even with the principle of tolerance being a central aspect in each corps' self-image, every corps student is urged to develop his own viewpoints and stand for them and to strongly participate in society, be it in politics, economy or social affairs. This encouragement for an ethical and self-confident behaviour on one side and the absence of a limitation to certain views on the other side let corps students often show up as the leading figures of the most diverse political directions. The emphasis on individuality brought many corps students in opposition to Totalitarian regimes, such as the Third Reich . The Weinheimer Student Corps also maintain a confederation with Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, a college Fraternity with over 270 chapters in the United States and Canada. HISTORY A SELECTION OF FAMOUS CORPS STUDENTS Politics
Sciences
Economy and Engineering
Fine Arts and Culture
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