A primary purpose of Phi Beta Delta is promoting internationalism. That sounds like promoting something that everyone agrees about, but it isn't that simple. While to many of us it would seem a given that an international attitude is a necessity in a steadily smaller world, a world now closely bound by technology, the fact is that parochialism and prejudice are still very much alive. Isolationalism, someone said, never is far away. Our society is not political, but it does stand for inclusiveness and urbanity, for an ecumenical approach to the world's cultures and for an appreciation of the real value in education of diversity. These are values they need all the support they can get in an era when suspicion and mistrust are afield.
So having a chapter of Phi Beta Delta is rather like building a lighthouse. It isn't an accident that our ritual and our shield involve a torch. In a modest but persistent way, we press for international ties between colleges and universities, for the exchange of students and faculty, and for campuses, which will more and more reflect a world of many peoples and many persuasions.
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