PHI BETA KAPPA CHANGES

At the annual meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society last June, a new plan for the election of undergraduate members, together with a report stating the reasons for the suggested changes, was submitted by a special committee, of which Professor A. B. Hart '80 was chairman. Final action cannot be taken until June, 1907, as all constitutional amendments must be made public at least a year before they can be voted upon.

The new plan is, in brief, to increase the number of undergraduate members from the Senior class from 30 to 35. The first eight are to be elected as at present. Three of these are to serve as a membership committee, and report to the first eight on the qualifications of candidates. At the next elections 22 men, instead of 17, are to be elected, and the choice is to be made out of the 44 men highest in rank not already elected, instead of out of 25. A committee of five is then to report on the qualifications of candidates not necessarily included in the 52 highest scholars; and of these candidates five-the present "honoraries"-are to be elected. The undergraduate members are to have entire freedom in choosing these five members at large, the ratification of the graduate Society no longer being necessary.

Comparison of the Two Systems.

The important changes from the present system are as follows: The membership is enlarged: this is demanded by the increased size of the University. The qualifications of all candidates, except those for the first eight are to be investigated and reported by a membership committee. At present no such method of determining the fitness of candidates exists, and the members are often ignorant of the actual qualifications of the men on whom they vote. The election of the five additional members is to be entirely in the hands of the undergraduates. At present the graduate Society, which often has little to go on expect the academic records, can prevent the election of a man considered suitable by the immediate members.

The main reason for these changes, as set forth in the report of the committee, is that the classes are now so large that men of considerable intellectual force and wide interests are often crowded out by men whose sole aim is study. Grades have ceased to be in every case a just statement of a man's intellectual worth. Hence a larger membership, and more freedom of choice are necessary. That this freedom may be exercised intelligently methods for a careful examination of each candidate's claims to election must be arranged. This is made possible by the plan of membership committees.

These changes, embodied in technical form in a constitutional amendment, have been filed with the secretary, and will be brought up for discussion at the annual meeting of 1907. At present the election of members will continue as heretofore