Sunday evening marked the beginning of a new honor society at UB, Phi Sigma Iota. The Central Station banquet hall in Clarence was host to a program inaugurating the new chapter and honoring the first 29 inductees.
David Turnbull, a junior French, Spanish and international studies major, founded UB's chapter. While on a flight to Israel, Turnbull learned about the society from a fellow passenger, a member of SUNY Binghamton's chapter.
When he learned that UB did not have a division, Turnbull set out to establish one.
"Our goal is to have an active honor society and to establish a forum for people to come together to learn about what they're not learning in their own classes," Turnbull said.
With the help of Jeannette Ludwig, a professor of French linguistics, Turnbull began working on Sunday's induction in February. A temporary executive board formed at an informational meeting last fall. Since then, members have worked every week to help plan the event, Turnbull said.
Sunday's proceedings were officiated by Henrik Borgstr?\0xA6m, the faculty advisor of Niagara University's chapter of Phi Sigma Iota.
"Phi Sigma Iota tries to bring together students from different disciplines, (while) most honor societies are exclusive," Borgstr?\0xA6m said in his opening remarks. "It is so wonderful to see a new chapter inaugurated."
Sunday evening, Buffalo's chapter joined Niagara as one of 242 chapters in the United States, according to Ludwig.
Phi Sigma Iota has been a melting pot of intellectual interests since its founding, members said during the induction. In 1922, Professor Henry W. Church of Allegheny College began the first chapter by simply discussing linguistic and literary interests with his students and colleagues.
After a buffet dinner, Ludwig introduced the evening's speaker, Roger Woodard, a professor in the university's classics department. Woodard weaved a web of experts from classic texts, including the Bible, Homer's "The Odyssey" and Robert Frost's poem "Revelation" to further illuminate the focus of Phi Sigma Iota.
Ludwig defined the name Phi Sigma Iota as incorporating the ideas of friendship, kindness and the act of conversation.
"Conversation - it is the ultimate human desire," said Woodard. He implored the organization to "engage in conversation, seek understanding with zeal and seek with kindness."
The induction described the origins of the society's insignia, a five-pointed star wrapped in a wreath that symbolizes the five languages of antiquity - Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic.
During the ceremony, the executive board members read passages from an initiation ritual that described the history of these languages and their contributions to the world culture. Members were then called forth by name to light candles and be recognized as inductees.
"You have an opportunity that others can only dream of," Turnbull said addressing the group. "This is a night of beginnings."
Potential members applied to the organization and were judged based on their academic distinction and their pursuit of one or more foreign language. Turnbull said out of approximately 35 applications, 29 were accepted.
Turnbull and Ludwig were pleased with the diversity of the group and were excited to begin an honor society that would be actively engaged in the university and community at large.
Although the formal agenda for the next semester will be established at the group's first general meeting this Wednesday, Turnbull was looking forward to developing a program at Viva La Casa, a local organization that assists immigrants.
"These students have talents that allow them to have an interface with new immigrants," Ludwig said.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
