Membership Requirements Members of Lambda Iota Tau must meet the
following qualifications:
They must be literature majors or minors.
They must have provided such evidence of superior
scholarship in the study of literature as is satisfactory
to the institution in which they are enrolled, to the
international honor society of Lambda Iota Tau,
and to the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS).
By-laws require students to be in the upper 35 percent of
their class in cumulative average.
They must be students enrolled in at least their
fifth college semester or seventh college quarter or
local equivalent.
They must have such faculty approval as the local
chapter may require.
They must present an initiation paper in such manner
as the local chapter shall require, of a quality
certified by the chapter moderator and on a literary
topic (research or critical) or of creative nature (short
story, essay, grouping of poems, play).
Chapters may also enroll associates who do not meet these
requirements but who presumably will at a future time.
Associates may not vote or hold office in a chapter, may not
claim membership in Lambda Iota Tau, and receive none
of the benefits of membership. They pay no international
dues and may attend the meetings of the local chapter.
Official Colors and Flowers The official colors of Lambda Iota Tau are
purple--for the magnificence of literature--and gold--for
the "realms of gold" where, as Keats said, literature leads us. The
official flower is the pansy--"That's for thought," as
Ophelia explained.
Fees The society's fees are set by the International Board of
Moderators. At present there are two dues schedules from
which a member may choose: $30 for one-year membership or $50
for lifetime membership.
Benefits of Memberships
Lambda Iota Tau is an honor society; election
to membership constitutes a reward for excellence in
scholastic achievement, and thus the mere fact of
membership is valuable in itself. This fact, however, is
symbolized concretely by four items: a membership
certificate, hand-lettered with the member's name and
suitable for framing; a membership card, suitable to be
carried in a wallet or purse; a decal, suitable for
placement on an automobile window; and, at extra cost, a
membership badge, which has a pin-and-catch construction,
and the lapel pin, which has a post-and-clutch
construction that also enables it to be used as a
tie-tack.
Lambda Iota Tau publishes a journal,
LIT. Only members may submit articles to this
magazine. Members also receive subscriptions to the
member-written issues of this publication and the
society's biannual newsletter.
Members may use the free criticism service maintained
by the society for help with poems, plays, short stories,
critical essays, or scholarly articles.
Since Lambda Iota Tau is an international
society, it offers its members an opportunity to make
contact with literature students in other countries where
there are chapters. Any member who would like to
correspond with a member in a foreign country should send
information about her/himself to the editor of the
newsletter.
The student affiliates with Lambda Iota Tau
through an active chapter. Through membership in such a
chapter, the student has an opportunity to meet and to
discuss literature with the best students in her/his
college generation. This contact can be an immensely
stimulating educational experience in itself, to say
nothing of the lifelong friendships that can enrich the
years after graduation.
After graduation, the student can at any time ask
the executive secretary for a list of the alumni in his or
her area so that he or she can contact them.
Because Lambda Iota Tau is one of the members
of the Association of College Honor Societies, its
members who enter federal employment do so at a higher
civil service rating than do other college graduates.
Lambda Iota Tau is the only honor society in the
field of literature which is a member of ACHS.
