The days when students automatically accepted invitations to membership are long gone. “The creation of an organization with very low standards and very high fees undermines the legitimate function of those societies that want to recognize genuine student achievement and set a high bar for doing it.”īut the story of Golden Key raises questions for all college honor societies. “It was clear to me from the beginning that this was manifestly an outfit that was out to make money,” says Hew Joiner, director of the Bell Honors Program at Georgia Southern University and past president of the National Collegiate Honors Council, a coalition of honors-program directors at more than 800 colleges. Others report that the society was padding its membership and profits with thousands of students who did not meet its academic standards. Lewis - who declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article - engaged in improper liaisons with students and an intern. Current and former officials allege that Mr. Golden Key is embroiled in a scandal of honor. Lewis has been forced out, amid criticism that the business he started in his parents’ house was becoming a nonprofit empire in his own image. Lewis made nearly $300,000 in total compensation.īut what’s not visible on the Golden Key Web site is that Mr. The organization has an annual budget of $10.9-million, a fresh crop of more than 120,000 inductees each year, and executive salaries that are the envy of the nonprofit world. Hyperbole aside, Golden Key approaches its 25th anniversary this year as one of the largest collegiate honor societies in the world. Accompanying text breathlessly describes the day he founded the society on the nearby campus of Georgia State University: “A realization struck that would change his life - and give birth to a dynamic, vibrant organization.” Lewis holding a globe in the palm of his hand. The Druid Hills Historic District of Atlanta, and you’ll find literature describing the Golden Key International Honour Society as “the most progressive honor society today,” the fruit of the “epic journey” of its founder, James W.
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