Posted on 03/02/2005 4:57:58 AM PST by StayAt HomeMother
George Mason University, Virginia’s aggressive and increasingly prestigious state school, isn’t good enough to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Why not? Because Michael Moore didn’t get a check for 35 grand and the opportunity to speak on campus.
It seems a small matter. Why punish GMU’s undergrads by denying them membership in the prestigious honor society for the dimwitted acts of others? According to letters to GMU, and cited by The Washington Post, Phi Beta Kappa is concerned about free speech and academic freedom.
That was news to us. In decades of campus speech codes, kangaroo courts punishing kids for unpopular views and dozens of instances when speakers were shouted down, Phi Beta Kappa said nothing.
Phi Beta Kappa’s top staffer said he didn’t know of any instances where the organization acted to pull membership from schools that stifle free speech. He refused to check further. Free speech experts couldn’t remember any instances and an Internet search and the society Web site revealed zilch.
So there you have it. When free speech for Moore is threatened, Phi Beta Kappa is there to punish kids who did nothing wrong. When the speech of undergrads is threatened, the wise and learned leaders of a two-century-old American institution can’t be bothered to lift a finger. Lovely.
When local conservative politicians questioned the wisdom of paying Moore $35,000 to speak at George Mason, a public university in Fairfax VA, the invitation was withdrawn. Apparently because of this, Phi Beta Kappa has decided that GMU is not worthy to have a chapter.
Here is an excerpt from the Washington Post about this story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61736-2005Feb28.html
"George Mason University Prof. Marion Deshmukh was feeling good last fall as she finished the school's 177-page application seeking to establish a chapter of the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society. The university, growing in size and reputation, counted two Nobel laureates among its faculty, new majors had been added and the library's collection had grown to more than 1 million volumes.
"But the very day Deshmukh delivered the application, George Mason got some unwanted attention: Leaders of the state university in Fairfax County, under pressure from conservative Virginia lawmakers, withdrew a speaking offer to liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, the outspoken director of "Fahrenheit 9/11." The controversial cancellation of an event scheduled days before the presidential election made headlines nationwide.
"University President Alan G. Merten said it was Moore's $35,000 fee, to be paid with state funds, that prompted the university to pull out, not opposition to the filmmaker's rhetoric. But Phi Beta Kappa officials apparently were not convinced: The organization, citing concerns about academic freedom, promptly rejected George Mason's application, according to university professors involved in the process. ..."
I'll bet there are a lot more PBKs on FR than any other forum on the Internet. Maybe the effete little twerps who run the org ought to hear from them.
Seems to me about time for real colleges and universities to form their own organizations to recognize one another's accomplishments...most existing seem to have been corrupted beyond redemption by "PC".
True "academic freedom" would entail the ability to either offer or not to offer someone an invitation to speak, as an institution sees fit, would it not? George Mason saw fit not to. I don't see a problem.
I'll look into this and consider my membership contributions. I know a recent column on the WSJ editorial page outlined the drastic turn the Society's journal American Scholar has recently taken under its new editor.
I'm thinking the same. Just because one represents a university doesn't mean they lose freedom of association. PBK may do what it wishes, but if there isn't a way to change the organization, I certainly explore options to resign.
No organization is required to fund, or even showcase for free, someones ideas. Moore has the right to speak freely anywhere he wants as long as he dosent trespass. he produced a couple of travisties in the motion picture genre and he made quite a bit of chump change from them. His trash has been well viewed by the public and none of it has been banned. Mr Moore has been able to excercise his right to free speech. No fraternity has the right to tell you me or any educational institution that they have to suffer Mr. Moores lies and spin.
It is their right to exclude him, and If I were a parent of a college age student(which I am), I would excercise my rights by making sure that Phi Beta Kappa was not on my childs agenda as a possible fraternity for them to be enlisted by.
"Prestigious" in whose eyes?
For those students who are hung up on status, and a "power resume" not having a PBK background may be worth crying about.
For those students who are more interested in a proper education the whole PBK thing is probably just another "snob alert".
The university, growing in size and reputation, counted two Nobel laureates among its faculty, new majors had been added and the library's collection had grown to more than 1 million volumes.
GMU seems to be doing well enough without the PBK snob crowd. Is there any indication that it would fair better with it, or is PBK just more window dressing?
This is an honorary organization based on your academic record, nota social fraternity. Having a Phi Beta Kappa key is a big deal (I don't have one).
And, has your life been adversely effected in some way (poor health, lack of employment, social problems, etc.) by the lack of this "key"?
No, I don't suppose so. But since I don't have one, I don't know. All I was pointing out is that it is an honor based on academics, not a social fraternity.
I'm a PBK. I'll voice my concern with the headquarters. It's really funny, though, because the 'liberal' self-esteem approach to education is antithetical to PBK which gives prestigious recognition to academic achievers.
It is very American. I'd like to see our side have some say in how it's managed.
I think I know at least one. What say you, PhiKapMom?
I do have the key and while it may look good on paper hasn't opened any doors for me.
I think David Horowitz would like the rhetorical opportunities in this story...
I consider it a perculiar point of honor that I was the only academically qualified student in the history of my high school who ever denied admission into the National Honor Society.
I was a little Hell-raiser even then, I was...
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