Phi Beta Kappa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Phi Beta Kappa |
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| ΦΒΚ | |
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| Founded | December 5, 1776 College of William and Mary |
| Type | Honor society |
| Affiliation | Honor Society Caucus |
| Emphasis | Liberal arts and sciences |
| Mission statement | To celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts. |
| Motto | Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης Love of learning is the guide of life |
| Colors | Pink Sky blue |
| Publication | The American Scholar |
| Chapters | 293 |
| Members | 500,000+ collegiate |
| Headquarters | 1606 New Hampshire Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20009 United States 38°54′41.3″N 77°02′31.6″W / 38.911472°N 77.042111°W |
The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was started at the College of William and Mary in Virginia in December 1776. Phi Beta Kappa works to promote and support excellent learning in the liberal arts and sciences. It invites top students from these subjects at certain American colleges and universities to join.
Since it began, many famous people have joined. These include 17 United States presidents, 40 United States Supreme Court justices, and 136 Nobel laureates. The Greek letters Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) stand for Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs). This means "Love of learning is the guide of life."
Contents
History of Phi Beta Kappa
How Phi Beta Kappa Started
The Phi Beta Kappa Society held its first meeting on December 5, 1776. Five students at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia started it. John Heath was their first President. This society set the trend for naming American college groups using the first letters of a secret Greek motto.
The students often met at the Raleigh Tavern, away from the college campus. Some people thought a Masonic group also met there, but the Freemasons used a different building. Some early Phi Beta Kappa members did become Freemasons later on.
It's not fully known why the students formed the group. They might have wanted to discuss non-school topics more freely. Or they might have wanted to talk about politics during the American Revolution. Early records show they debated and practiced public speaking. Their topics were similar to what they studied in class.
In 1779, new members learned they could "disengage yourself from scholastic cares." They could share their thoughts freely, knowing everything was sub rosa (in secret). They were also encouraged to explore ideas with "freedom of inquiry." This freedom helps find truth and get rid of false ideas.
Early College Societies
Older student groups existed at William & Mary. The F.H.C. Society, also called "the Flat Hat Club," started in 1750. It was the first secret college society in North America. Unlike Phi Beta Kappa, F.H.C. used Latin letters for its name. Its motto might have been "Fraternitas, Humanitas, Cognitioque" (Brotherhood, Humanity, and Knowledge).
Another Latin-letter group at William & Mary was the P.D.A. Society. People publicly called it "Please Don't Ask." John Heath, who helped start Phi Beta Kappa, was traditionally said to have been denied entry to P.D.A. However, he might have chosen not to join it. His friend William Short later wrote that P.D.A. was known more for parties than for learning.
Phi Beta Kappa as a Secret Society
The founders of Phi Beta Kappa wanted their new society to be "purely of domestic manufacture." This meant it had no ties to European groups. They said the society was for friendship and good company. Its foundations were "friendship as its basis and benevolence and literature as its pillars."
The College of William and Mary closed temporarily in early 1781. This happened during the British attempt to regain control of the American colonies. Because of this, Phi Beta Kappa also stopped meeting for a while. Elisha Parmelee, a former student of Yale College and Harvard College, visited Williamsburg. He took permission from Phi Beta Kappa to start new groups at these schools.
A second chapter began at Yale College in late 1780. A third started at Harvard College in 1781. A fourth was founded at Dartmouth College in 1787. Phi Beta Kappa was a secret society to protect its members and create a strong bond. Its motto was Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης, or Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs in Latin letters. This means "Love of learning is the guide of life." Greek was chosen because it was the language of science in Roman times.
In May 1777, a new way to recognize members was created. It involved a handshake and a specific hand gesture across the mouth. This complex set of actions allowed members to recognize each other "in any foreign country or place."
Becoming an Academic Honor Society
More chapters appeared at Union College in 1817 and Bowdoin College in 1825. Brown University got a chapter in 1830. The first chapter at William & Mary was also reopened. In 1831, the Harvard chapter made the society's secrets public. This happened during a time when many people were against secret groups like the Masons.
The first chapter started after Phi Beta Kappa became "open" was at Trinity College in Connecticut in 1845. Before the Civil War, chapters often invited famous speakers. Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1837 speech at Harvard, "The American Scholar," is the most famous.
Phi Beta Kappa was the first college group to use a Greek-letter name. It is seen as a model for modern college fraternities and other honor societies. Over time, new "social" fraternities appeared. This made the social part of Phi Beta Kappa less important. It then became the honor society it is today.
By 1883, when the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa were formed, there were 25 chapters. The first women joined the society at the University of Vermont in 1875. The first African-American member, George Washington Henderson, joined at the same school two years later. However, in 1885, Phi Beta Kappa stopped allowing engineering students to join. This rule is still in place today.
Each chapter is named by its state and a Greek letter. The letter shows its order of founding in that state. For example, Alpha of Pennsylvania is at Dickinson College, founded in 1887. Beta of Pennsylvania is at Lehigh University, founded later that year. By 1920, there were 89 chapters.
Phi Beta Kappa was one of six honor societies that helped start the ACHS in 1925. But it left ACHS about a decade later, in 1937. Today, Phi Beta Kappa is part of a group called the Honor Society Caucus. This group includes four old and respected honor societies. The other members are Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and Omicron Delta Kappa.
Symbols of Phi Beta Kappa
The symbol of the Phi Beta Kappa Society is a golden key. On the front, it has a pointing finger, three stars, and the Greek letters ΦΒΚ. On the back, it has the letters "SP." Some historians believe "SP" stood for Societas Philosophiae, meaning "Philosophical Society." They think this was the original name of the society.
The "key" did not start as a copy of a watch key. The first symbol was a larger, engraved silver medallion. It was a square of metal with a loop to hang it from ribbons around a member's neck. This was similar to how older groups wore their symbols. Later, the medallion became smaller. Men then wore it on their watch chains as fobs.
Some design details have stayed the same since the beginning. These include the stars, pointing hand, and Greek letters on the front. But there are also differences between old keys and new ones. The name of the person who received the key was not engraved on the earliest ones. This started in the early 1800s. The name of the school was also not always on the early keys.
The number of stars on the front has changed over the years. There were never fewer than three, but some keys have as many as a dozen. The meaning of the stars varied among chapters in the early days. The date the honor was given only appeared on keys from the mid-1800s onward. The date December 5, 1776, on the key is the founding date of the society, not the date it was awarded. In 1912, the key was made to a standard size and golden look. It also started to include the school's name, the recipient's name, and the award date.
Activities of Phi Beta Kappa
Publications
The Phi Beta Kappa Society publishes The Key Reporter. This newsletter is sent out four times a year to members who donate. It is sent twice a year to all other members. They also publish The American Scholar. This is a quarterly magazine that features essays on literature, history, science, and culture.
Awards and Fellowships
Phi Beta Kappa gives out several book awards. These are the Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, the Christian Gauss Award, and the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science. These awards are given each year to excellent scholarly books published in the United States. The winning books cover humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and math. They must be interesting to many people and easy for general readers to understand. Each award comes with a $10,000 prize.
The Dr. Martin R. Lebowitz and Eve Lewellis Lebowitz Prize is for achievements in philosophy. The Phi Beta Kappa Society gives this award with the American Philosophical Association. It was started in 2013 to recognize great philosophical thinking. Winners have received up to $25,000 each.
The Mary Isabel Sibley Fellowship is given every year. It alternates between the fields of Greek and French studies. The award can be used to study Greek language, literature, history, or archaeology. It can also be used for French language or literature. This fellowship helps women study and live abroad. It comes with a $20,000 stipend.
The Walter J. Jensen Fellowship helps teachers and researchers. It aims to improve education in French language, literature, and culture in the U.S. This fellowship is for at least six months of study in France. The stipend for 2016 was $15,500. The Romanell-Phi Beta Kappa Professorship is given yearly to scholars in philosophy. It recognizes great achievements and contributions to public understanding of philosophy.
Programs
Since 1956, the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program has allowed college students to meet famous scholars. The program helps share ideas between these scholars and the college's teachers and students. Phi Beta Kappa also supports a National Arts & Sciences Initiative. This program connects members and groups across the country. It shares the value of arts and sciences and supports policies that strengthen this education.
Membership in Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Beta Kappa has chapters in only about 10% of American colleges and universities. Only about 10% of arts and sciences graduates from these schools are invited to join. Most students are chosen in their senior year. Some colleges pick a small number of very top students in their junior year. This is usually less than 2% of the class. Some chapters also choose graduate students with amazing academic records.
Each chapter sets its own academic rules. But all new members must have studied liberal arts and sciences. They must also show "good moral character." Usually, they need grades that put them in the top tenth of their class. However, Princeton University includes engineering students in Phi Beta Kappa. There is a required fee to join, which was between $50 and $95 in 2005. Sometimes, the university pays this fee for the student.
Membership is usually for students with very high grade point averages (GPAs). This means at least 3.8 out of 4.0. In 2001, alumni voted to make the GPA cutoff higher. Chapters were told to be much more selective. Since it started, 17 U.S. Presidents, 42 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and over 136 Nobel Laureates have been members.
Phi Beta Kappa Chapters
Phi Beta Kappa has 293 chapters. New chapters are approved at their Triennial Conventions, which happen every three years.
Honors and Recognition
In 2008, the Phi Beta Kappa Society received the Arts and Sciences Advocacy Award. This award came from the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS). CCAS gives this award to groups that strongly support the arts and sciences. It recognizes their deep belief in the value of a liberal arts education.
See also
- College literary societies
- Honor society
- Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science
- Phi Kappa Phi
