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the wisdom of paying Moore $35,000 to speak at George Mason, a public university in Fairfax VA, the invitation was withdrawn.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.
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?
My alma mater and one hell of a good history department. They did the right thing refusing Moore, and my next check will include my support for their decision. I'll be damned if my contributions to GMU is going to end up in the pocket of a dirt bag like Moore.