Word: kappa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Your editorial of Saturday scoffing at the Committee for Academic Freedom to be sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa is a native piece of self-delusion. At the present time, there is more need than ever for the consolidation of all forces for the defense of civil liberties, within and without academic walls. The national organization of Phi Beta Kappa was forced to recognize this last year when it launched its campaign for the defense of intellectual freedom. For it is not simply "yapping minorities," as the editorial maintains, who are attacking the rights of students and teachers and labor organizations...
...house, no key. Its 900-odd members are divided into two chapters: Alpha (for All-Americans) and Rho (for also-rans). To become an Alpha and wear the All-America insignia (a shield with two crossed megaphones) is as great a distinction among cheerleaders as getting a Phi Beta Kappa key is to a bookworm...
Claiming to be an alumnus of the School of Dard Knocks who is in the dark about the meaning of the "academic freedom" which Phi Beta Kappa has set out to protect, Thomas Dorgan, former member of the State Legislature, calls on the learned fraternity for an explanation in a letter to Paul Olum, PBK First Marshal...
...second question is whether Phi Beta Kappa should god-father the proposition. No one can possibly object that this organization is coming to life, for the intellectual aristocracy sits in a coign of great vantage. But come what may, Phi Beta Kappa should exist as a completely nonpartisan intellectual organization. Whatever the proposed committee may be in theory, by fact and by reputation it will inevitably assume a color and a partisan nature. The issues dealt with will inevitably revolve in political and ethical spheres which should be strange...
...double sentiment which has moved Phi Beta Kappa to take this action is greatly to be praised. But the concrete turn which this sentiment has taken is rather questionable. Until a case of real suppression arises at Harvard, the Committee for Academic Freedom would serve no function but to cast aspersion upon Harvard's present-day tolerance in the eyes of the nation's liberal press. This is not a very worthwhile stake on which to gamble the position of aloof grandeur which PBK now occupies in the eyes of Harvard students...