Homepage of Dr. Paul Rich
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Phi Beta DeltaFrom: A Profile of Paul Rich, President-Elect The president-elect of Phi Beta Delta is Paul Rich. Dr. Rich is Titular Professor of International Relations and History at the University of the Americas — Puebla, Mexico, and Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University. Active in Harvard alumni affairs, he has been Visiting Professor in the Office of Scholarly Programs of the Library of Congress and received both the Cameron Medal and Carter Award for social science research. Dr. Rich is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London and the author of many books, including studies of British imperialism, the Persian Gulf, and secondary education. He is the president of the Policy Studies Organization and the general editor of the Lexington Press series on political science. He is considered a world authority on Freemasonry and other secret societies. He founded the first Phi Beta Delta chapter outside of the United Sates, Gamma Sigma of Mexico. In this Q and A session with Paul, I asked him a series of questions regarding his interest in PBD, his international experi-ences, and his vision for PBD, etc. Here are his stimulating responses: (The Editor) Q. How did you become interested in Phi Beta Delta? I saw the call for papers for the annual meeting in San Antonio in the Chronicle of Higher Education back in 1995, and we, with my teaching assistant, Guillermo de Los Reyes, went and gave a paper. By total coincidence the President of the University of the Americas, Enrique Cardenas, was on the plane – he was going to be the feature speaker, having been invited by Paul Parrish! So the three of us from Mexico found out about the society by chance. Everyone thinks we had a master plan, but it was chance. It seemed a little ironic that an organization for interna-tional
education would have no international chapters, and so after San
Antonio, Guillermo and I went about organizing Greek honor societies are rare in Mexico and Latin America. People associate them with frat houses in Hollywood movies. For 2003, we are going to sponsor a chapter at the local state university and we have been thinking about ways to have more Mexican universities in Phi Beta Delta. But it’s a novel concept for students and faculty in Mexico. On the other hand, there are more than two million university students in the country, so there certainly is potential. Of course, each chapter has its own personality. The University
of the Americas chapter has emphasized the honorific aspect, so
that distinguished visitors to the campus like the American Ambassador
to Mexico and governor of the state have been inducted. One surprise
was when we initiated the Nobel Prize winner for peace, Norman Borlaug.
When he arrived for the ceremony he told us he had already been
made a member in the United States, but was delighted to be initiated
again! The Gamma Sigma chapter at UDLA has meaningful ceremonies
for conferring the medal and for welcoming new officers. It’s
important that these rituals be done Our growth in chapters would not be happening if instead of being Phi Beta Delta, we were international goodwill clubs. We are particularly welcome on campuses because of the special nature of a Greek honor society. The fact that we trace our origins to the eighteenth century and the founding of Phi Beta Kappa at the College of William and Mary is one of the reasons for the desire of campuses to have a chapter. It isn’t the whole story, but it is what makes us unique. Our ritual and ceremonial side needs our attention. At UDLA we have a tradition that the commencement speaker comes to the international relations department on the morning of graduation and receives honorary member-ship. So the award is taken seriously. We also sponsor a reception on Friday afternoon at the annual international meeting. So we do have some traditions, and I think each chapter should develop them. They give continuity. Q. What international experiences are part of your own background? After high school in Amherst, New York, near Buffalo, I went to
boarding school in England. While I was a student at Harvard, I
spent my junior year at Makerere University in Uganda and wrote
my senior thesis on Uganda. In the 1970s I went to Saudi Arabia
as a consultant and teacher when the university system was being
started, and then spent more than ten years in the Arabian Gulf
sheikhdom of Qatar as the head of supervisory training and development
in the Ministry of Education. After that I was a research professor
in Western Australia, and for the last ten years I have been professor
in Mexico as well as a visiting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Q As President-elect what are your primary goals and objectives regarding Phi Beta Delta? We need a permanent headquarters with a little museum of our past.
The University of Georgia has been awfully good to us and perhaps
we can consider space there on a less temporary Our journal needs to be looked at with a view of making it a publication
that will attract library subscriptions. I am also president of
the Policy Studies Organization, which is a political science society,
and we just finalized a publishing agreement with Blackwells for
more than a million dollars. Journals I would like to see every
chapter raise $10,000 during the next ten years as a permanent endowment
for itself, kept in a trust fund at the national level,. That would
mean that every chapter would have its basic dues paid forever and
would give PBD a million dollar endowment. I don’t think it
is impossible to raise that amount to make your chapter permanent Q. Do you have any priorities regarding your objectives and how will you implement them? I give priority to ideas that help increase our financial resources. We have a small budget, and for us to take advantage of opportunities we need to find more resources. I think, for example, there might be a chance for foundation grants if we work hard on our programs. These days the president of any organization must accept the fact that fund raising is a priority. It is no longer an incidental. Of course, if we doubled the number of chapters we would at least double our income. If those reading this want a simple, effective way to help, go out and promote a new chapter on another campus. That is the single best thing you can do for Phi Beta Delta. Q. One of your major responsibilities will be to organize the next international PBD conference in Puebla.What are your plans for this conference and what should our members expect? The whole program will be at the website http://mailweb.udlap.mx/~rich/frater/intro.html. We need changes. The conference for years has been about the same size, a hundred or less, and despite our thousands of student members, we have not had many students. First off, the conference has been too expensive and I think that has discouraged participation. Students and indeed, faculty, do not have tons of money. The 2003 registration for faculty is $90 and for students is $30. Hotels are inexpensive and often flights down to Mexico cost less than flights across the United States. So I hope that the low cost will attract more attendance. Students coming to the conferences have not had too much in the
way of special activities. This year is different. UDLA sponsors
every year the major model United Nations in Mexico and Latin America.
The model brings students from all over Latin America and Europe,
PBD students will meet people their own age for a highly sophisticated
role playing of the Security Council, General Assembly, and Organization
of American States, as well as a chance to see the famous local
clubs and discos. Those registering early will get their choice
of delegation - China or France or Russia, for example. PBD conference
activities will dovetail with the United Another change is to have a more challenging theme for the papers and panels. I wanted to call it something like “Sex Midst the Ivy” but that might have embarrassed folks. The conference theme especially encourages papers on ethical and moral issues - for example, single sex education, co-ed dorms, women in higher education, lesbianism in the academy, gay rights, church-related colleges, morality in teaching, and all aspects of gender and morality in pedagogy, arts, and learning. Other subjects, in the PBD tradition of openness and inclusiveness, are of course welcome. But we really ask you to do the paper you have never dared to do!! Mexico has a real magic and Cholula is full of things to see and do. The weather is always fine because of the altitude and the colonial buildings and surrounding mountains make this a fabulous location. With the effort to keep the cost down, provide the Model UN for student, and the appeal for shocking papers, I hope we will attract a mob. Believe me, we are going to do everything to make it best time you will ever have had at a meeting. Q. Is there anything else you would like to mention to the membership? I am immensely proud to be the new president and I hope that you
will write to me with your own ideas. My email is simply
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