Philolexian Society
| Philolexian Society | |
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| Founded: | 1802 |
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| Category: | Debate |
| Website: | {{{Website}}} |
| Contact: | {{{Contact}}} |
The Philolexian Society is one of the oldest collegiate literary societies in the United States, and the oldest student group at Columbia. It was founded in 1802. After maintaining a continuous existence for over 130 years, a combination of administrative interference, the Great Depression, and student apathy following an internal power struggle led to periods of intermittent dormancy over the next 20 years. Allen Ginsberg is often apocryphally credited with having run the society into the ground. The society was revived once in the 1960s by Ben Stein and others, but the effort didn't last. In 1986 the society was reconvened again by a group of 6 college students with nothing better to do with their time. The society has been active ever since.
The society aims to "improve its members in Oratory, Composition and Forensic Discussion". The name Philolexian is Greek for "Lover of discourse," and the society's motto is the Latin word "Surgam", meaning "I shall rise".
It has many famous alumni, and administers the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest.
Resolutions
- Student government is incredibly lame.
