The Portland daily press., 1895-09-14
THE PHI BETA KAPPA.
Circumstances Attending CoIby's Admis-
Education.

DR.. II. S. Burrage has returned from
the national council of the Phi Beta
Kappa society, which was held at SYRIA
cuse, n. Y. This society is the ancient
literary order, to which for many years
the best scholars have been admitted on
graduating from college. Colonel Thomas
Wentworth Higginson presided, being
President of the Council. He made an
interesting speech, saying that his memo
ries of Phi Beta Kappa went back to the
days when he was seventeen years of age
and new member of the Harvard Chap
ter He wore on that occasion the silver
key which his grandfather had worn as
member of the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa.
He recalled briefly two of the men who
were present at that meeting. Judge
Story, ,one of the most accomplished men
in America, presided. Oliver Wendell
Holmes presented song. which was sung
after Holiness then very young, had stood
up and delivered it,
At the election of officers at the SYRIA
cuse meeting, Col. Higginson declined
reelection, and Bishop H. G. Potter, of
New York city was elected in his place.
The principal business of the meeting
was the reception of applications for mem
bership. The colleges now represented in
the society are: Bowdoin, Dartmouth,
University of Vermont Middlebury,
Harvard Amherst, Williams, Tufts,
Brown, Yale, Trinity, Wesleyan, Union,
Univ tu Of fho Gifu Of Noxry
College of the City of New York, Column
bia, Hamilton. Hobart, Colgate, Cornell,
Rochester, Rutgers, Dickinson, Lehigh,
Lafayette, University of Pennsylvania.
William and Mary (where the order was
founded in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson).
Adelbert Kenyon, Marietta, De Paw,
Northwestern, Universities of Kansas,
and Minnesota.
OF these thirty -four colleges 81 were
represented. Applications for new chap
ters were presented as follows:
Colby, endorsed by Bowdoin.
Institute of Technology, endorsed by
Amherst.
Syracuse, N. Y, endorsed by Roches-
ter.
Barnard, N. Y, endorsed by Columbia.
Swathmore, endorsed by Cornell.
Johns Hopkins, endorsed by Williams.
University of Cincinnati, endorsed by
Kenyon, Hamilton and Cornell
Wabash, endorsed by De Paw. Hamil-
ton and Cornell.
State University of Illinois, endorsed
by Williams.
State University of Iowa, endorsed by
Rutgers. De Paw and Minnesota.
State University OF Nebraska, endorsed
by Williams.
The application of the Institute of
technology, Barnard, 1.-THE University of
Cincinnati, Wabash, and the State Uni
versity of Illinois were rejected; Barnard
on the ground that Columbia already
having chapter, second chapter could
not be granted to the woman's college.
The petition for Colby received the
hearty support of Bowdoin, Professor
Chapman making the motion for it's re-
ception. The election was by secret bal
lot, and the vote was not announced I'M
til all the cases had been disposed of.
The discussion with reference to the In
titute of Technology was exceedingly able
and interesting. Prof. Grosyenor, of
Amherst College, presented the case in
very able address. He said that the In
stitute of Technology had the hearty en-
dorsement of Williams College, the Alma
Mater of President Walker. Although
the Technology gives only the degree OF
Bachelor Of Science, any student to OBJ
tain that degree must take an extended
course in history and political economy
The aim of President Walker during his
administration had been to elevate it's
standard. and to give it place among
the higher institutions of the country.
The old education is gone, the new edu-
cation is here, and we cannot shut our
eyes to the fact
President Higginson, representing Har-
vard left the chair and spoke ably in
favor of granting chapter to the Insti-
tute He said he could not cut himself
easily aloof from the traditions of the
past, and yet from his associations at
Harvard he could not be Ignorant of the
changes that had taken place in the last
twenty-five years. A student of Harvard
today can be admitted to Phi Beta Kappa
without as broad literary culture as is re-
quired at the Institute of Technology for
the degree Of Bachelor of Science. There
are chapters of Phi Beta Kappa which
are admitting members who are candi-
dates for thedegree of Bachelor of Science.
Why then should we reject this petition
of the Technology, simply because it con-
fers only the degree B. S.
Yale was divided. Prof. Seymour OPP
posed the granting Of the chapter While
it might be true that six or seven men at
Harvard had been admitted to Phi Beta
Kappa who had not received the old time
literary culture, he believed we should
stand by the traditions of the society.
On the other hand Prof S. E. Baldwin
of the Yale Law School, made an earnest
and strong argument in favor of the petit
tion
The delegate of Cornell strongly OPP
posed. There is now organized at Cornell
a scientific society of similar aims.