DiPhi celebrates 230 years of dialogue and debate

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When you think of something that ties all Tar Heels together and has existed during every student’s time at Carolina, Old East and Davie Poplar likely make the list. Perhaps less well-known? The University’s first student organization.

“The history of DiPhi is the history of UNC-Chapel Hill,” said John O’Connor ’11, ’15 (MPA), ’15 (MS), a former senator in the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies. “There really is no separating them.”

Just 111 days after Hinton James arrived on campus in 1795, he and 30 of his classmates formed the nation’s first student organization at a public university, the Debating Society. Founded with a shared purpose of engaging in critical thinking and lively discussion, after just three meetings the group split, and members — called senators — declared themselves part of the Debating (later Dialectic) and Concord (later Philanthropic) Societies. Every student at the University was required to join. Students from the east of Raleigh were Phi; students from the west were Di. In 1959, the two groups merged to form one Joint Senate.

While membership is no longer a requirement for students, the ideals behind why they formed these groups more than two centuries ago are still very much alive today.

“It’s a blend of history, tradition and engagement with big challenges in modern society,” said O’Connor, who is on the board of directors of the DiPhi Foundation and director of archives and special collections at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. “DiPhi plays a critical role in fostering good citizens of the state and the world. It’s important to have tough discussions with respect, but it’s a skill our society is using less and less.”

Open to the public, DiPhi’s meetings are held every Monday evening in New West throughout the academic year and notoriously run until the early hours of the morning. Though they no longer greet prospective members on horseback or hold duels to compete in recruitment as they did in the 1800s, the two groups still sit on separate sides of the chambers. Debate topics have ranged from whether the study of ancient authors is useful — the first speech ever made in the Debating Society — to the more recent idea of the U.S. adopting cryptocurrency as a legal tender.

“DiPhi provides you with a really wonderful community on campus. As cliché as it is to say, we really are a family,” said Katherine Fiore, incoming president of the Joint Senate. “My best description is that we are a 60-person friend group with a debating problem.”

Before every debate, members take a straw poll on a particular topic and repeat that at the end of the night. Fiore says the numbers are always different post-debate.

“When DiPhi was formed, there was a desire to engage in open discourse, and that hasn’t changed,” she said. “It’s so important for students to have the opportunity to interact in a structured setting and talk about their ideas. After four years of debating issues that people face around the world, you might come out with different opinions than when you first came to Chapel Hill. It’s incredible. That’s one of the ways DiPhi has helped shape me.”

Its membership rose and fell over the years, particularly through both world wars, but DiPhi helped establish the University’s libraries, school colors, magazine, yearbook and Carolina Alumni.

“It’s important to understand how your existence in the world impacts others,” said Fiore. “I think that 230 years of history reminds you of that and the members before you who toiled to ensure the continued survival of the societies. We have a profound ability to change with the times while still preserving our history and remembering the people who came before us.”