Blue Key
| Formation | November 1, 1923 |
|---|---|
| Type | Honor Society |
| Headquarters | Gainesville, Florida |
| Location | |
| Website | Official website |
Florida Blue Key is a student honor and service society at the University of Florida. It is often written and referred to by the initialism "FBK."
This organization was started at the University of Florida in 1923 under the presidency of Albert Murphree. Blue Key quickly spawned chapters across the United States, before the other chapters split with the original Florida chapter in the early 1930s. Their original charge was to plan a special weekend celebration for the university.
Today, the organization remains the powerful and politically active founding Blue Key chapter. A significant amount of Florida's famous politicians and business leaders became members of Florida Blue Key during their collegiate years and have followed that network for much of their careers. According to a 1997 lawsuit by Charles Grapski, Florida Blue Key maintains tight control over the Student Government and University of Florida.
"Florida Blue Key was founded on November 1, 1923, several days prior to the University's Homecoming celebration. At the suggestion of President Albert E. Murphree, Bert C. Riley, Dean of General Extension, brought together a group of student leaders to form an organization which would recognize leadership and promote service to the University. Among the duties assigned to Florida Blue Key were playing host to campus visitors and to be at the call of the President of the University for any duty designated by him.
In this respect, Blue Key was given the task of planning and executing Homecoming activities that year and has continued to lead this activity ever since. Also included in the 1923 Homecoming was Dad's Day, a time for parents to visit and acquaint themselves with campus life. Dad's Day and Homecoming were held concurrently until the 1930s.
The organization quickly became so popular that Blue Key spread to colleges and universities across the country.
Initially, membership in the organization was ex officio; a student automatically belonged to the organization if he held one of the major student organization positions on campus.
The concept of a group of student leaders pooling their talents and interests to plan and promote a major event for their campus was a popular idea. Through Dean Riley's travels and professional contacts, similar organizations were developed on other campuses and it wasn't long before it seemed appropriate to organize into a national group.
For a variety of reasons, the University of Florida chapter decided not to be part of the national organization between 1932 and 1935. The Florida group thought the proposed Constitution of the national organization took too much control from the hands of the students; and it disagreed with some specific tenets of membership, including the requirement of a 2.5 grade point average. The Florida group believed the organization was not an academic one but, rather, a leadership and service group; thus, if one was progressing satisfactorily toward a degree (i.e. 2.0), one should be eligible for membership. Since then, Florida Blue Key has changed its stance on the grade point average requirement, now requiring a 2.75 GPA in order to be tapped.
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