Phi Beta Kappa
| The Phi Beta Kappa Society | |
|---|---|
| ΦΒΚ | |
 |
|
| Founded | December 5, 1776 The College of William and Mary |
| Type | Honor Society |
| Emphasis | Liberal arts and sciences |
| Mission statement |
To celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.
|
| Motto |
Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης Love of learning is the guide of life |
| Colors | Pink and Sky blue |
| Publication | The American Scholar |
| Chapters | 286 |
| Members | 500,000+ collegiate |
| Factoid | The first collegiate Greek-letter fraternity and the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences. |
| Headquarters |
1606 New Hampshire Ave. NW Washington, D.C. U.S. |
| Homepage | pbk.org |
The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the United States, with 286 active chapters. Widely considered to be the nation's most prestigious honor society, Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and to induct the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at American colleges and universities. Founded at The College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776, as the first collegiate Greek-letter fraternity, it was among the earliest collegiate fraternal societies and remains the oldest existing American academic honor society. Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) stands for Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης or in Latin letters Philosophia Biou Cybernētēs, which means "Love of learning is the guide of life" or "Philosophy is the governor of one's life."
According to Phi Beta Kappa, they have chapters in about 10% of American higher learning institutions, and about 10% of these schools' Arts and Sciences graduates are invited to join the society. Although most students are elected their senior year, many colleges elect a very limited number of extremely select students in their junior year, generally less than 2% of the class. Each chapter sets its own academic standards, but all inductees must have studied the liberal arts and sciences, demonstrated "good moral character", and, usually, earned grades placing them in top tenth of their class. There is a mandatory initiation fee (between US$50 and US$90, as of 2005), which is sometimes covered by the inductee's university.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded on December 5, 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and established the precedent for naming American college societies after the initial letters of a secret Greek motto.
The group consisted of students who frequented the Raleigh Tavern as a common meeting area off the college campus (a persistent story maintains that a Masonic lodge also met at this tavern, but the Freemasons actually gathered at a different building in Williamsburg; ten of the original members later did become Freemasons). Whether the students organized to meet more freely and discuss non-academic topics, or to discuss politics in a Revolutionary society is unknown; the earliest records indicate only that the students met to debate and engage in oratory, and on topics that would have been not far removed from the curriculum. In the Phi Beta Kappa Initiation of 1779, the new member was informed, "here then you may for a while disengage yourself from scholastic cares and communicate without reserve whatever reflections you have made upon various objects; remembering that every thing transacted within this room is transacted sub rosa, ...here, too, you are to indulge in matters of speculation that freedom of enquiry which ever dispels the clouds of falsehood by the radiant sunshine of truth...".
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