Di and Phi
Debating Societies Still Wield Influence at UNC
Asheville Citizen-Times October 24, 1948
United
States Senator William B. Umstead on a visit to the University of North
Carolina, his alma mater several years ago, was invited to address a session of
the philanthropic Assembly debating society in which he was a leader during his
undergraduate days.
'If
I had in my right hand everything that I learned in the halls of this society
and in my left hand everything that I learned in the University, I couldn't
swap my experience in debating for the other things I've learned here in the
University," he told the members of the Phi Assembly present on the
occasion.
Some
of the other alumni present thought Senator Umstead may have been exaggerating
some for effect, but there is no doubt about the fact that he felt his richest
experiences of his undergraduate days stemmed from his forensic contests.
Not
many students take the work of the University's student debating societies as
seriously as Senator Umstead did--and maybe it’s a pity they don't--but a
substantial percentage of this year's freshmen are faced with the time-old
question of whether to join the Phi Assembly of the Dialectic Senate.
It
has been a pretty well established custom that men from he western section of
the state join the DI and those from the east the Phi, but there are a number
of exceptions to this rule every year and the boys from other states, of
course, feel at liberty to choose the organization they like best.
On
June 3, 1795, about a month after the University first opened 31 students
organized a group under the name of a "Debating Society." Shortly
after the first few meetings, the organization split into two groups, the
Dialectic Society, which is now the Dialectic Senate, ad the Concord Society,
which one year later was termed the Philanthropic Society, now known as the
Philanthropic Assembly.
The
Societies formed the foundation for the present day system of student
government on the Carolina campus. In
the early days expulsion from one of the societies meant expulsion from the
University.
The
motto of the Phi is "Virtue, Liberty, and Science." The purposes of
the Phi are two-fold. "First. The Improvement of its members in the
science and art of debating, in English composition, and the attainment of good
style, in the knowledge of parliamentary rules and modes of conducting public
business. Secondly, the cultivation of moral and social virtues, and the
formation of lasting friendships founded on cooperation in honorable works."
The
object of the Di are "to stimulate a love of literary work and knowledge
of parliamentary law, to develop the power of extemporaneous speaking to the
extent of being able to form thoughts quickly and accurately while on the floor
and give expression to these in good form." The motto of the Di is
"Love of Science and Virtue.'