William & Mary students John Heath and William Short (Class of 1779) founded the nation's first collegiate Greek-letter organization, Phi Beta Kappa, on December 5, 1776, as a secret literary and philosophical society.
In 1776, John Heath and William Short (Class of 1779), students from William & Mary, created the nation's initial collegiate Greek-letter organization, Phi Beta Kappa, serving as a secret literary and philosophical society.