Phi Beta Delta of course started for colleges and universities, for scholars, young and old, on campuses. But there is a trend in honor societies to initiate people who are not students or staff or faculty -- people "outside". Chemists are asked to join chemical honor societies, and so forth. Additionally, there have always of course been Greek professional societies whose membership is overwhelmingly made up of graduates and which are not campus based at all.
Well, outside is an awkward way to describe those who fit the ideas of an honor society but do not happen to have a university affiliation, but it does call attention to the many people who subscribe to the goals of Phi Beta Delta but are not on the enrolment ledgers of our institutions. Chapters can vastly enrich their membership by recognizing those in the community who are spreading the values of internationalization. Every chapter should have as members some of the honorary consuls of foreign countries in their cities.
The day will come when a chapter may be imbedded in a company. A large international bank, a consulting firm -- those are places where it is quite reasonable to think that a chapter could be a great asset to our entire organization. One wonders who will be the first to propose this and where that first chapter will be?
prev next