Phi Beta Kappa

“ The oldest Greek-letter society, Phi Beta Kappa, was organized at William and Mary College, Virginia, in 1776; Kappa Alpha was founded at Union College, in 1827, this being the first fraternity to be organized according to the system at present prevailing. The first sorority was Kappa Alpha Theta, established at De Pauw in 1870. The sororities now have about 50,000 members in 395 chapters.
A gem representing one of the States is often set in a talismanic ring. ”

“ As a matter of fact, it is extremely difficult to point out definitely where progress in humanity may be observed. Ambassador Bryce was asked, two years ago, to deliver an address before Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard, and took for his subject "What is Progress?" Phi Beta Kappa is the fraternity that admits into its classes only the best {14} students,--men who have proved their ability by success. Mr. Bryce, speaking to the most intelligent university graduates, might be expected to make much of our wonderful recent progress. ”

“ When it was discovered, however, that another fraternity bore the name of Sigma Phi, the designation was changed to Phi Kappa Alpha, in 1874, which is still retained.
The Beta became extinct in 1879. The badge of the fraternity consists of a three-sided shield, displaying the letters “ΦΚΑ,” and below an open book. The shield is bounded by circular arcs, the upper one of which bears the name of the college. ”

“ In college it is not necessary to get into Phi Beta Kappa, though that is desirable; but it is necessary to work hard at your studies. It is necessary to have the habit of application, the habit of subordinating mere pleasure to serious duty, if you are going to do really good work once you are out of school and out of college. ”

“ If you had asked any one in Cambridge who was the surest man for Phi Beta Kappa, the answer would invariably have been John Phillips—that is, until the last week in April, or the first in May. A mysterious atmosphere enveloped him; he certainly wasn't the man he used to be, and he was unequivocally a much worse baseball player. Then, too, he had taken to spending too much time with himself; and, although he came to the club frequently, it was not often that he joined in the revelry which Pepper McHenry and Monk Spinden started as soon as they came in. ”

“ The address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, in 1867, equals in moral grandeur and earnestness of appeal, in faithfulness to ideas and trust in principles, the addresses that made so famous the prime of his career. There is absolutely no abatement of heart or hope; if anything, the tone is richer [Pg 225] and more assured than ever it was. During the season of his popularity as a lyceum lecturer, the necessity of making his discourse attractive and entertaining, brought into the foreground the play of his wit, and forced the graver qualities of his mind into partial concealment ”

“ In column f of the table is shown the percentage of graduates which each college, so far as I have been able to secure the figures, elects to Phi Beta Kappa. It will be seen that there is no common custom and that the variation is considerable. Each represents, however, the proportion of high-grade men, according to our criterion, among its living alumni, and, consequently, the proportion we might expect to find among its representatives in 'Who's Who,' if high grade in college has nothing to do with one's expectancy of place in that book. ”

“ The courses of lectures that he delivered at the Masonic Temple in Boston, during the winters of 1835 and 1836, on “Great Men,” “English Literature,” and “The Philosophy of History,” were well attended and admired. They were followed by two discourses which commanded for him immediate recognition, part friendly and part hostile, as a new and potent personality. His Phi Beta Kappa oration at Harvard College in August 1837, on “The American Scholar,” was an eloquent appeal for independence, sincerity, realism, in the intellectual life of America. ”

“ They interfere in no way with the fraternities, and usually serve to bring the leading spirits of each class together. In the following account of the class societies, I am indebted to a work entitled "Four Years at Yale," published anonymously in 1871, for information in regard to the Yale societies. The first class society was probably Phi Beta Kappa, which at first only admitted seniors. It was followed by Chi Delta Theta and others at Yale, and the idea has been extensively copied. By an “open” society is meant one which admits members whether they belong to other fraternities or not. ”

“ John Bacon, John Fenwick Eustis, Horatio Hale, Charles Hayward, Samuel Tenney Hildreth, Charles Stearns Wheeler, Henry Williams, James Ivers Trecothick Coolidge, Henry Lawrence Eustis, Nathan Hale, Rufus King, George Warren Lippitt, James Russell Lowell, and Charles Woodman Scates.
This is no place for a history of Alpha Delta Phi. At the moment when the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, the oldest of the confederated college societies, gave up its secrets, Alpha Delta Phi was formed in Hamilton College of New York. ”

“ The comfortable theory that once he has settled down to something important the college ne'er-do-well will suddenly blossom forth into a competent leader of men didn't work out in practice. It may have happened here and there, but it didn't happen as a general rule. In the fighting line, it was very generally the man with a sound academic record, not necessarily the Phi Beta Kappa lad, but the good scholar and active college citizen, the man who had taken the trouble to learn things and learn people, who made the best record. ”

“ Even after the moral stigma of a college education had passed, the critics said that anyhow the female mind was not made to master science and Greek and mathematics. And it was only about twenty years ago that Phi Beta Kappa decided to risk the opening of its ranks to college women—of course provided that any of them should be able to attain the high scholarship that it required. The female mind, you know! ”

“ In the college community generally, and in the speeches made by the faculty before gatherings of students, the highest tribute is reserved for the athletic heroes. Those who win college honors, or who make Phi Beta Kappa or Sigma Xi, are rarely heard of. The present theory seems to be—and again, the theory, not so much of the students as of the faculty and administration—that the student who wins honors work only for himself, while he who helps win a game does something for the college. ”

“ One can walk the streets of any of the university towns in his academic robes without being jeered at, as I am afraid he would be in some of our own thoroughfares. There is a noticeable complacency in the members of our Phi Beta Kappa society when they get the pink and blue ribbons in their buttonholes, on the day of annual meeting. ”

“ But the average boy gains more from running the college paper or fraternity house than by writing Latin verses or even reading the innocuous literature prescribed by the College Entrance Examination Board. Certainly both college students and college teachers could be more usefully employed than they are at present; but it is odd that the president of Princeton should rub this in.
Mr. Lowell had undertaken to give the Phi Beta Kappa at Columbia before he was elected to the presidency of
Plan of the University of Pittsburgh. ”

“ The Beta of Beta Theta Pi, having become disaffected, was expelled, and its former members obtained a charter as Beta Chi of D. K. E. The current rumor that the Beta Chapter was "lifted" is untrue. The Delta was formed from members of the Phi Delta Theta and Phi Kappi Psi fraternities. The Beta was formerly a local society known as the Psi Phi.
As a general fraternity, D. K. E. does not hold the place it would seem to be entitled to from the colleges in which it has chapters and from the number of its members. ”

“ Many former members of Iota Alpha Kappa, who were opposed to the breaking up of the order, have become members of the new society. All the ritual and internal machinery was at first unchanged; it has since been gradually altered, until it is now totally different to what it was before the rupture.
The Alpha Psi is in a good condition; the Beta, which was started by three members, became inoperative last year; the Gamma, owing to anti-fraternity laws, is now defunct, although the charter is still held by resident members. The Epsilon is not completely in organization yet. ”

“ The council which met in Pittsburg in 1865 formulated the policy which has since governed the fraternity, and its extension from that date has been rapid.
The Pennsylvania Delta was consolidated with the Alpha when the colleges were united. South Carolina Alpha died a natural death from the decadence of the college. Mississippi Alpha and Beta, and Tennessee Alpha were not reorganized in 1863. Tennessee Beta has become defunct from lack of members. Kentncky Alpha, Illinois Gamma, and Wisconsin Beta have been killed by anti-fraternity laws. ”

“ The society color is black. The total membership to date is 190.
In December, 1877, the fraternity became the Phi Kappa Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi.
Psi Phi. A local fraternity founded at Columbia College in 1865. It was called the Alpha Chapter, and lived until 1874, when it was merged into Beta of Delta Kappa Epsilon. The society made every effort to establish chapters elsewhere, but it was remarkably unsuccessful. ”

“ Kappa Alpha is the oldest undergraduate fraternity, which has had it continuous existence since its foundation. Chi Phi, though founded one year earlier, was dormant for nearly twenty years, while Kappa Alpha was flourishing. The society was founded at Union College, in 1825, by the Rev. ”

“ In 1875 the fraternity began the publication of a monthly journal called the “Phi Kappa Psi Monthly”; in 1877 it was changed to a quarterly. It contains the usual matter in such periodicals. A songbook is now in press, and the “Phi Kappa Psi Grand March” was pub1ished some years since.
Honorary members are admitted by some of the chapters, and among them are the late Charles Sumner, Carl Schurz, Burdette, of the “Burlington Hawkeye,” etc. Among the eminent graduate members are Hon. C. P. T. Moore, Judge, West Virginia; Hon. Geo. A. Jenks, ex-M.C. ”

“ The society soon took a prominent position in the university, and remained without a rival until 1874, when Gamma Phi Beta was founded. Both organizations are now in a flourishing condition. The chapter calls itself the “Alpha;” its badge is a monogram of the “Α” placed over the “Φ,” and is very pretty. The total number of members to date is 54, and its active membership is between 20 and 25.
The society's colors are silver gray and bordeaux. ”

“ Phi Kappa Sigma has met with reverses which were sufficient to kill almost any organization. Losing ten out of sixteen chapters at once in 1861, it was enough to bring despondency to the whole order. Obstacles have been surmounted, however, and in Southern Pennsylvania the fraternity is very strong, and bids fair to have as bright a future as any of its numerous rivals. ”

“ It is asserted that the leading Greek fraternities are this, and that the existence of Alpha Delta Phi, Psi Upsilon or Delta Kappa Epsilon, or others of the secret groups, is not a good thing for the students as a whole. Yet in the existence of these societies is forged another of the links of life to come outside, and all the good things to be gained in college are not the ratings won in classes. ”

“ The members of Delta Kappa Epsilon have acquired and adopted the name of "Dekes." The government of the fraternity is vested in the annual conventions, over which a Yale man always presides; the Phi exercises parental authority over the other chapters. ”

“ Beta is also small, but ranks high at the university. Gamma, Phi, and Chi are alumni chapters, but possess all the rights and privileges of the collegiate lodges. Iota and Nu became extinct With their respective colleges. Lambda, Epsilon, and Mu voluntarily surrendered their charters. Delta is both a large and prosperous chapter. 0micron and Upsilon were disbanded by order of the college authorities. Rho's charter was withdrawn by the fraternity. ”

“ In addition there are about 100 local societies or chapters acting as independent units. Some of the older of these, such as Kappa Kappa Kappa at Dartmouth, I K A at Trinity, Phi Nu Theta at Wesleyan and Delta Psi at Vermont, are permanent in character, but the majority of them are purely temporary, designed to maintain an organization until the society becomes a chapter of one of the general fraternities. ”

“ All these college fraternities are secret in their character With the exception of Delta Upsilon, which is anti-secret, and Phi Kappa Alpha, which is non-secret. To one, however, who has given any consideration to the subject, the secrecy is such only in' name, and carefully worded inquiries will elicit all that is wished to be known. The societies have stolen each other's constitutions with more or less frequency, and these documents are not so difficult to obtain as might be supposed. ”

“ Being picked men, and united, they each form an imperium in imperio in the large societies much used by ambitious collegians. Curious as it may seem, too, many of these societies have gained some influence and notoriety beyond college walls. The Psi Upsilon, Alpha Delta Phi, and Delta Kappa Epsilon Societies, are now each ramified through a dozen or more colleges, having annual conventions, attended by numerous delegates from the several chapters, and by graduate members of high standing in every department of letters. ”