Di Phi
Encyclopedia : D : DI : DIP : Di Phi
The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, commonly known as Di Phi, are the debate and literary societies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
History
The Dialectic Society was established in 1795, making Di Phi the oldest student organization at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Shortly after the inception of the Dialectic Society, the Philanthropic Society broke off and took a new motto. In the early days of the University, students were required to join one of the two societies, and the rivalry between the two was extremely bitter. Society members would ride out on horses to greet incoming students, attempting to recruit them and dissuade them from joining the other society. The rivalry eventually led to dueling; according to society lore, it was the death of a student in a gun battle that prompted the administration to change the societies' official rules, making membership optional and setting a demarcation line to determine society membership (see below for a detailed description of this arrangement).
Shortly after the societies split, they each took a color. The Dialectic Society took powder blue, while members of the Philanthropic Society took white. Following a football game against the University of Virginia, in which UVA students displayed orange and blue penants, the societies' colors were adapted as the University's official colors.
It became the tradition of the societies to handle the funeral expenses of members who died while attending the University, and several members are now buried in the societies' adjoining plots in the campus cemetery.
The societies now function as a single entity with a single leadership structure.
Membership
Membership in the societies is open to all UNC students. Students become senators by petitioning either the Dialectic or Philanthropic Society.
Determining Society The society a student petitions is determined by their county of origin. If the student is from North Carolina, to east of Chapel Hill, they will petition the Philanthropic Society. If they are from North Carolina, to the west of Chapel Hill, they will petition the Dialectic Society. If the student comes from the town of Chapel Hill, or is from another state entirely, they may choose their society.
Eligibility To become eligible, a student must attend three consecutive meetings and must speak at least once.
Sponsorship At this time, they may ask any senator in the society they intend to joint to act as their sponsor. A sponsor takes on the duty of teaching the petitioner about the history and function of the societies.
Petitioning Speech The sponsor must then deliver a petitioning speech on a topic of their choosing, and field questions from the joint senate. Questions may challenge the petitioner to defend claims they have made in their speech. They also test the petitioner's knowledge of Di Phi history and trivia. They may also be humorous and challenge the petitoner to think on their feet. After the speech is completed, the petitioner leaves the room. All visitors are also asked to leave, and the chambers are sealed. Thus, the decision process is known only to active senators. The candidate is informed of the joint senate's decision at a later time, although how this works is not made clear.
Induction The induction takes place at a later time. This is done during meetings, following the evening's program. Again, visitors are asked to leave, and the chambers are sealed while the secret ritual is carried out.
Programs
The societies meet every Monday night while classes are in session. Meetings are held in the Dialectic Society Chamber, on the top floor of New West, an academic building near the center of campus. Debates are held under the guidelines of parliamentary procedure and adhere to Robert's Rules of Order. Resolutions are drafted in advance. For each debate, four members are scheduled as speakers: a primary affirmative and primary negative, each of whom are given seven minutes to deliver a speech, and a secondary affirmative and secondary negative, each who are given five mintues. After delivering a speech, speakers must field queries from fellow senators and guests.
After the four scheduled speakers have finished, the society president recognizes speakers from the floor. Speakers from the floor may be members or guests. When all have had an opportunity to speak on the resolution, it is submitted to two votes. The first is open to anyone in the chamber, while the second is open only to active senators. Anyone may abstain from voting, although this is lighthearedly frowned upon and is usually met with hisses and jeers. The result of the vote is entered into the Societies' archives.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.