Two Centuries of Elitism

Phi Beta Kappa still flourishes amid changing standards

It all began over a cool brew in a warm tavern. Young gentlemen at the College of William and Mary in revolutionary Virginia drew up plans for a society of good fellowship and spirited debate. (Sample topic: "Whether Polygamy is a dictate of Nature or not.") They devised a secret handshake and an initiation rite. The group, in fact, might have ended up as just one more fraternity but for a sober motto--and philosophy--based on the Greek letters FBK : "love of wisdom the guide of life." The Virginia chapter collapsed after only five years, in 1781, but not before it had sent an emissary north to Yale and Harvard. This month in Cambridge, Mass., the Alpha chapter at Harvard, which, more than any other has helped shape Phi Beta Kappa into the national honor society it became, celebrates its 200th anniversary.

There is much to celebrate. Less than ten years ago, on many college campuses, FBK was regarded as odiously "elitist." At Cornell in 1973, half of those invited to join turned down the offer. At Duke University in 1968, the student newspaper balked at printing the list of new members. Today everybody is eager to join, partly because undergraduates again think the distinctive gold FBK key may help unlock the door to worldly success. Harvard's chapter, which boasts such notable alumni as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry Adams, is flourishing. And when, as part of the bicentennial festivities, it recently sponsored a panel discussion on "Literacy and the Search for a Livable Future" at Harvard's cavernous Sanders Theater, there was no shortage of academic talent on hand. Significantly, though, Harvard Dean Henry Rosovsky and other panelists had trouble deciding what kind of "literacy" they meant: Should it be the traditional "literacy of expression"? Or what Professor Carl Kaysen of M.I.T. described as "scientific literacy," to be attained through less Latin and more physics and calculus?

Since it became a full-fledged honor society in the mid-1800s, FBK's commitment to academic excellence has not wavered. Higher education in America is changing. Today the selection of an elite appears to be no easy task. Colleges differ markedly in quality. There are about 2,000 four-year institutions in the U.S. The national FBK office in Washington, D.C., has 20 file drawers full of applications for new chapters. But it now limits membership to 228 colleges and universities and will not grant any new chapters without personal visits to assess the quality of faculty, library, and honors programs. Individual chapters have been advised to require candidates to demonstrate knowledge The key itself of foreign languages and math as part of a strong liberal arts background. That has meant that Georgia Tech, because it mainly trains engineers, has never had a chapter. FBK guidelines also indicate that new members rank in the top tenth of their class, a standard that made Bryn Mawr refuse a chapter on grounds that all Bryn Mawr women are academically elite. The grade inflation that began in the late '60s has made it difficult to distinguish the brilliant from the merely bright. Many college chapters, including Harvard's, now examine the records of candidates to be sure their good grades were not garnered in too many "gut" courses.

There are 375,000 key holders in the U.S. Among them is a generous sprinkling of leaders in government and business, as well as a lion's share of professors. For new job seekers, the benefits of carrying a key are hard to assess. "Quite frankly, sometimes it's a hindrance," says John Delgrosso, an administrator at New York University. "People are seen as overqualified, and other people feel threatened by that." Most corporations hire out of graduate school and judge applicants accordingly. But a spokesman at a New York brokerage firm admits: "A key is something we'd look at twice."

Whatever the value, the attitude today is "If you've got it, don't flaunt it." A key is rarely sported on a vest chain or dangled haughtily over a decolletage. Says Delgrosso: "You see it at law school and medical school interviews. After that it goes back in the drawer." All perfectly fitting, suggests Harvard's John Finley, Eliot Professor of Greek Literature Emeritus. The key is not for success, he says. "It is for vision, the The founder, John Heath quest for understanding."

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