The Iron Arrow Honor Society is an honor society at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida for students, faculty, staff and alumni. It is the highest honor that the university can bestow upon someone.[1]
Founded at the University of Miami in 1926, the society admits about thirty members annually, including undergraduate, School of Law and Miller School of Medicine students, alumni, and University of Miami faculty, staff, and administrators. Membership requires unanimous votes of the membership. Criteria include scholarship, leadership, character, humility, and love of alma mater.
The society was founded in 1926 as the "Highest Honor Attained by Men." In 1937, Nu Kappa Tau, a separate sister organization at the university, was founded as "The Highest Honor Attained by Women." In 1966, Nu Kappa Tau became affiliated with the national honor society Mortar Board, "leaving Iron Arrow to carry the tradition alone."[2][3]
In 1976, the federal government notified the University of Miami that it was providing significant assistance to Iron Arrow in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The university responded by having Iron Arrow move its tapping ceremony off campus and negotiated with it to accept women members. Iron Arrow, in turn, sued the federal government seeking the right to continue on campus as a male-only organization.
In 1982, university president Edward T. Foote II wrote Iron Arrow stating that regardless of the court case's outcome, Iron Arrow would not be allowed back on campus as a male-only organization. This rendered the court case moot before it was scheduled to be heard in 1983 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Iron Arrow Honor Soc. v. Heckler (464 U.S. 67).[4]
In 1985, breaking with over fifty years of tradition, the society's all-male membership voted to admit women and Iron Arrow was allowed back on campus.
Iron Arrow Honor Society has been the subject of two books, Iron Arrow: A History (published in 1976) and Iron Arrow: A History, Seventy-Five Years (published in 2001).
In 2022, the University of Miami's student senate passed a resolution calling for the disaffiliation of the society from the university.[5]
In July 2020, Iron Arrow faced criticism from some in the University of Miami community and some Native Americans for "cultural appropriation," though the Iron Arrow Honor Society is an officially sanctioned clan of the Miccosukee tribe of Florida.[6]
| Alumni | Notability |
|---|---|
| Bowman Foster Ashe | former president of the University of Miami |
| Xavier Cortada | artist |
| Gloria Estefan | Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter[7] |
| Dante Fascell | former U.S. member of Congress |
| Michael Johns | health care executive and former White House presidential speechwriter |
| Dexter Lehtinen | former U.S. attorney for Southern District of Florida |
| R. Fred Lewis | former chief justice, Supreme Court of Florida |
| Russell Maryland | former professional football player, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and Oakland Raiders |
| Jackie Nespral | WTVJ and NBC News anchor |
| Alex Penelas | former mayor, Miami-Dade County[8] |
| Jon Secada | Grammy Award-winning musician |
| Donna Shalala | former president of the University of Miami, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Clinton Foundation president |
| José Szapocznik | clinical psychologist |
| Robert H. Traurig | founder of Greenberg Traurig |
| Lauryn Williams | 2004 Olympics silver medalist in women's 100-metres |