As Phi Beta Kappa continues along our quarter-millennium journey, we celebrate academic excellence, champion expertise, and defend academic freedom and free inquiry by working alongside trusted partners.
Through national advocacy and the launch of “Higher Education’s Compact with America,” Phi Beta Kappa is advancing a renewed partnership between colleges and the public that positions education as a vital public trust central to democracy, security, and shared prosperity.
As higher education confronts profound and complex challenges, the beginning of the academic year brings a renewed sense of purpose.
The United States higher education system, and liberal arts and sciences institutions in particular, are central to America’s creativity, productivity, and security. In short, a robust higher education sector is essential to the nation’s future and deserves our support more than ever.
Phi Beta Kappa’s mission—to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, foster freedom of thought, and recognize academic excellence—has called for us to engage with a wide range of public issues. Our mission, not politics, will continue to drive our nonpartisan advocacy actions.
Not only is an embrace of free expression central to the creation and discovery of knowledge, it also turns out to be the best way to deal constructively with the challenges of our time. Universities can serve as role models for a “vigorous civility” that is sorely lacking in public life, a commitment to disagree without delegitimizing and to begin difficult conversations with a search for shared values and common ground.
This past summer, as the Society has every three years since the first Triennial Council convening in 1883, representatives from Phi Beta Kappa’s 290+ chapters and nearly 50 alumni associations gathered to chart the course of our future. This was a particularly significant conference as we gathered on the cusp of our 250th anniversary in 2026.
The third star on the Phi Beta Kappa key, in addition to the two for learning and morality, is for friendship. This kind of friendship is not only for those with whom we agree. It is also for those with whom we disagree about key fundamentals but with whom we share a community.
Phi Beta Kappa believes that a liberal arts and sciences education requires the ability to inquire deeply and to express oneself freely. This is why freedom of inquiry and freedom of expression have served among our indispensable hallmarks.
An arts and sciences education is not a luxury for simple times—it is a necessity for challenging times.
Liberal arts and sciences education fosters the sustained engagement of free individuals committed to our shared values of justice, liberty, human dignity, and the equality of persons
This is the season when two core aspects of our Phi Beta Kappa mission converge: the recognition of academic excellence on our campuses and our advocacy for the liberal arts and sciences.
