This post was written by culture editor Karolina Ramos.
Information has never been more accessible to academia’s elite – but the next generation of academics was urged to tackle that as a challenge.
More than 100 seniors and 20 juniors were inducted Friday into Phi Beta Kappa in Lisner Auditorium, entering the society as the top 10 percent of GW students. The national honors society boasts members like author Pearl Buck, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and GW alumna and commencement speaker Kerry Washington, who was inducted in the organization in 1998.
Provost Steven Lerman, a Phi Beta Kappa member himself, encouraged students to distinguish between knowledge and information in the “digital era” in his charge to the graduates, urging students to question the barrage of information available to them.
“Knowledge derives, in part, from information, but it really requires what I would call a discipline of the mind and a way of thinking critically about information and weighing its values,” Lerman said. “One of the great joys of the world of information is that it’s available, but the challenge, of course, is to continue to make sense of it.”
Assistant professor of honors and physics Bethany Kung regarded the inductees’ accomplishments as more than just a number on a 4.0 scale.
“Phi Beta Kappa membership implies a breadth of thought and challenge. These students have not focused single-mindedly on just one subject but have taken more intellectual risks,” Kung said. “These students represent not only the highest achieving students at GW, but also those who have chosen to make the very most of their undergraduate experience.”
Former D.C.-area Phi Beta Kappa Association President Christel McDonald encouraged the new members to wear their honors regalia with pride, recalling wearing her key, the society’s national symbol, to social functions in her youth. Honorees are presented with a key during the ceremony.
She urged students to connect face-to-face with fellow members both in the District and across the country.
“Instead of having 200, 300 friends on Twitter and Facebook and so on, you have gained half a million new friends, all people in Phi Beta Kappa, who are real people, intelligent people, and eager to meet you,” McDonald said.
In a time of exhaustive access to digital information, McDonald left the graduates with a promising reminder.
“If you ever lose [your key,]” she said, “you can always order another one online.”
