Harvard PBK Piloting Changes to Election Process During 2024-25 Academic Year

Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter will not require students to submit applications for its Junior 24 and Senior 48 classes during the 2024-25 academic year, the chapter announced on its website.

The decision to eliminate applications is part of a series of changes to PBK’s election procedures that the chapter is piloting this academic year. Harvard’s PBK chapter also eliminated quotas on the number of students who are eligible for election from each academic division.

According to the PBK’s website, these changes were implemented “to increase the fairness and equity of the election process.”

PBK Alpha Iota of Massachusetts President Karen L. Thornber wrote in a statement that the changes were “proposed by the Chapter Officers, in consultation with colleagues in the Office of Undergraduate Education.”

“Every year there were some eligible students who did not submit applications and so were not considered for election,” wrote Thornber, a professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. “By removing the barrier of the application, we intend for the election process to allow for a wider array of students to be considered for election.”

Previously, the application required students to submit a written statement with short answers and provide a letter of recommendation from a faculty member.

Instead, students who have earned the highest GPA within three academic divisions — Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences — as well as those nominated by either their concentration’s director of undergraduate studies or their resident dean will be automatically considered by the committee.

The number of eligible candidates from each academic area will be proportionate to the number of students in each class concentrating in that division.

These changes update the Junior 24 and Senior 48 selection process to be in line with that of the “Final Seniors,” about 96 members of the graduating class who are elected shortly before Commencement in May.

After this year with the piloted changes, PBK’s Massachusetts chapter will vote in May 2025 during its annual meeting to decide whether to permanently keep the updated election process.

Thornber added that the PBK has not yet received student feedback on the pilot program.

Despite the establishment of the pilot program, the process for how students are nominated and evaluated by the election committee remains unchanged, according to Thornber.