Numerous scholars have observed that the comprehensive high school has never succeeded in socially unifying the entire student body. This article attempts to explain why this has been the case by tracing the origins and development of the extracurriculum at Ithaca High School from 1890 to 1917. It demonstrates that students struggled with administrators to control clubs, athletic teams, and secret societies. Students' active role in shaping the character of the high school frustrated administrators' attempts to engineer a coordinated extracurriculum that would facilitate social unity.