In order that undergraduates may understand the purposes of Phi Beta Kappa, and the requirements for election to it, the following sketch of the society's history and ideals is pointed.

The Phi Beta Kappa Society was founded at William and Mary College in 1776, and is the oldest Greek letter society in America. The University chapter, Alpha of Massachusetts, was established in 1779; its list of members comprises such names as Ralph Waldo Emerson 1821, James Russell Lowell '38, Charles W. Eliot '53, LeBaron Russell Briggs '75, Frederick Jesup Stimson '76, Abbott Lawrence Lowell '77, Theodore Roosevelt '80, Curtis Guild '81, and Gardiner Lane '81. The society endeavors to gather the leaders in scholastic attainments from each class, and also to raise the intellectual tone of the entire undergraduate body.

The criterion of election to the society is always high scholarship. Under the existing system, not more than forty men may be chosen from each class. In the fall of each year, the college office sends to the active society, that is, to the eight Seniors elected the year previous, the names of the twelve highest Juniors and of the 44 highest Seniors, exclusive of those already members; from these names eight Juniors, the so called "Junior Eight," and 22 Seniors are chosen. Later in the year five more Seniors may be elected; these men are those whose records for the first part of their College career have been marred by sickness or other causes not affecting their good character, but who have done such excellent work that their fitness for membership cannot be questioned. At the close of the year the society may choose five additional men who have been successful in the award of prizes and academic distinctions. In this way the membership may include from 30 to 40 Seniors and eight Juniors at the end of the year.

As there have been frequent misunderstandings in the past, it is important that students be informed plainly what principles the society follows in considering each candidate's fitness. No more reliable testimony is available than the academic grades made by the student, and in fact the chief exercise of the society's right of selection is the effort to standardize the sets of grades under consideration, and in every way possible to claimant all unfairness arising from a merely quantitative estimate of marks.

Intellectual achievements in outside activities is always given due weight, though the danger of personal bias makes this evidence less reliable. However, a student's activities in extra curriculum pursuits are not regarded as making up for deficiencies in his scholarship rating at the office.