More to PBK than GPA
To the Editor:
Your recent article on honor societies ("Academic societies may offer limited edge in apps.," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 10/21/04) misrepresents the criteria for admission to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor society. Yes, the electoral board requires that nominees have a high grade point average in liberal arts classes, but that is by no means the primary criterion for admission; that only makes a student eligible for review.
Each year, the faculty board of PBK reads the transcripts and recommendations of over 600 eligible seniors in order to select approximately 100 for admission. Since all of the candidates have high GPAs, the committee can afford to ignore grades, and will reject students with very high averages who appear to have made choices to protect their GPA, in favor of students with lower grades who have been more adventuresome.
The qualities that the board looks for include research, honors in the major, advanced course work in cognate disciplines and a record that suggests that a student has welcomed intellectual challenge. The rigorous process of faculty review distinguishes PBK from other honor societies, and it is the reason that membership is held is such high regard.
Erick Schneider
WHG '04
The writer is the secretary of Phi Beta Kappa.
The fight over copyright law
To the Editor:
Thanks for excellent coverage of the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act ("File-sharing law could send violators to prison," DP, 10/15/04). There is, however, more that your readers should know about the fight over copyright law.
First, the PDEA (H.R. 4077) is not the only pending copyright legislation that restricts our rights. The Senate is considering S. 2560, the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act, intended to ban peer-to-peer networks. P2P networks are already used for trading legal files such as live sets by pro-bootlegging bands (like the Grateful Dead) and public domain files (like video of the Induce Act hearings). The act is written so broadly that manufacturers of technologies like the iPod and video-editing stations could be sued for "inducing" copyright violations.
Next, this is part of a historic shift from the limited copyright envisioned by our founding fathers to nearly limitless legal power for big media. Scholars such as Larry Lessig and Siva Vaidhyanathan prove this convincingly. Copyright started out with a once-renewable term of 14 years with limited scope. Today, it lasts 70 years past the author's death, and it is defined so strictly that the digital equivalents of quoting (e.g., sampling) are illegal, as are basic home uses like playing a foreign DVD.
Bill Herman
ASP '07
