Charter Phi Beta Kappa Zeta of Florida

WHEREAS, the liberal principles of our Society should not be confined to any particular place, person or description of persons, but should be extended to the wise and virtuous of whatever community;

WHEREAS, we, the members of PΒΚ as a body dedicated from its very founding in the historic year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six at the College of William and Mary in Virginia to the ideal of excellence in scholarship in the liberal arts and sciences, are willing and desirous to propagate the Society in praiseworthy institutions of higher learning; and

WHEREAS, we are satisfied that you are inspired by an unquenchable desire that your institution be added to the notable company which enjoy the recognition of PΒΚ, and we have carefully determined that your institution is possessed of the character and standing which make it particularly worthy of admittance into this association and friendship;

Therefore, by virtue of resolution duly adopted by our representatives in the fortieth triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, we have decreed the establishment at this time of a chapter of PΒΚ in EckerdCollege in the State of Florida, to be known as the Zeta of Florida.

FURTHERMORE, we have commanded that there issue under the seal of the Society and the hands of the President and the Secretary this Charter in the name of PΒΚ.

Accordingly, you and such others as you may hereafter elect and associate with yourselves in conformity to the law of PΒΚ, and your and their successors so elected and associated are hereby incorporated and established as a separate and coordinate branch of the Society and are hereby granted all the powers, privileges, and benefits thereunto appertaining, in as full and ample measure as the members of the existing chapters enjoy: there being at the same time enjoined upon and required of you, in the organization and conduct of the chapter and as conditions upon which this Charter is granted, strict compliance with the Constitution and Bylaws of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, with the acts of the Council and the Senate, and with the Chapter Constitution herewith transmitted to you; and likewise a devoted effort always to protect the name and the key of PΒΚ from imitation and indignities and faithfully to promote the purposes of the Society.

In Testimony Whereof, the President and the Secretary of the Phi Beta Kappa Society have hereunto set their hands and caused to be affixed its seal this twenty-seventh day of February, anno Domini two thousand and four.