Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
Encyclopedia
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| Founded | 1825 | ||
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| School | University of Virginia University of Virginia The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson... |
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| Home Page | http://www.jeffersonsociety.org | ||
Officers of the Society, Fall 2011 |
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| President | Mr. Keenan Davis | ||
| Vice President | Mr. Philip Williamson | ||
| Room Seven Resident | Mr. Andrew Koch | ||
| Treasurer | Mr. Joe Choi | ||
| Secretary | Mr. Bret Vollmer | ||
| Historian | Ms. Adrienne Albright | ||
| Keeper | Ms. Audrey Birner | ||
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The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society is a debating
Debate
Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...
and literary society
Literary society
A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of literature or a specific writer. Modern literary societies typically promote research about their chosen author or genre, publish newsletters, and hold...
at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. Founded in 1825, it is the oldest organization at The University and one of the oldest continuously existing debating societies in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The Society meets at 7:29 on all Friday evenings when classes at the University of Virginia are in session, principally in Hotel C of the University's West Range
The Range
The Range is part of the original grounds of the University of Virginia as designed by Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. The Range buildings run parallel to and face away from the Lawn, and are separated from the Lawn by a series of ten gardens .There are six "hotels" on the...
, known colloquially as "Jefferson Hall
Jefferson Hall
Jefferson Hall – more formally known as "Hotel C" – is a building on the West Range of the University of Virginia. It is the traditional home of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society; the term "Jefferson Hall" is sometimes used as a synonym for the organization.Jefferson Hall is...
", "Jeff Hall", or simply the "Hall". In former times it was popularly known around Grounds as the "Jeff."
The Greek letters of the Hall are Φ Π Θ - Phi Pi Theta - which are the initials of the Society's Greek motto: φίλοι, πατρίς, θεός (philoi, patris, theos, or "friends, fatherland, God"). After Phi Beta Kappa the Jefferson Society is the second oldest continually existing Greek-lettered organization in the country. The Hall's Latin motto, taken from Book 1, line 203 of Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
's Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
, is Haec olim meminisse iuvabit - roughly translated, "In the future it will be pleasing to remember these things."
Well-known members of the Hall include Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
, former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore
Jim Gilmore
James Stuart "Jim" Gilmore III is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia, former 68th Governor of Virginia, and a member of the Republican Party. A native Virginian, Gilmore studied at the University of Virginia, and then served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence agent...
, Former University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III
John T. Casteen III
John Thomas Casteen III is an American educator. He has served as Professor of English and President of the University of Virginia from 1990 through 2010.-Early life and career:...
, and 2005 Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
Deidre Downs
Deidre Downs
Deidre Downs is a beauty pageant contestant and winner of Miss America 2005. She is from Birmingham, Alabama. As part of her year of service as Miss America, she campaigned for Curing Childhood Cancer. For her talent, she sang a rendition of the ballad "I'm Afraid This Must Be Love"...
. Several former and current members of the University's Board of Visitors also are members. Honorary members include James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
, the Marquis de Lafayette, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, and Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley
Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley
Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley, GBE, PC, QC was a British jurist specialising in European and International Law, and a former judge of the European Court of Justice and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.-Early life:...
(who frequently visited the Society during his semi-regular trips to speak at the law school). Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
turned down an invitation for honorary membership in an August 12, 1825 letter, citing his need to avoid altering his relationship with the University and its students.
Events
The hallmark of the Society's public visage is its Speaker Series, which draws distinguished individuals from myriad disciplines to address the Society and its guests each Friday evening during the fall and spring academic sessions. Noteworthy speakers over the years include Presidents Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Chief Justice William Rehnquist
William Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States...
, U.S. Senators John Warner
John Warner
John William Warner, KBE is an American Republican politician who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009...
and George Allen
George Allen (U.S. politician)
George Felix Allen is a former United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen. Allen served Virginia in the state legislature, as the 67th Governor, and in both bodies of the U.S. Congress, winning election to the Senate in 2000...
, Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore
Jim Gilmore
James Stuart "Jim" Gilmore III is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia, former 68th Governor of Virginia, and a member of the Republican Party. A native Virginian, Gilmore studied at the University of Virginia, and then served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence agent...
, Vermont Governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
, Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
, William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, George Will
George Will
George Frederick Will is an American newspaper columnist, journalist, and author. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winner best known for his conservative commentary on politics...
, Ruth Westheimer
Ruth Westheimer
Ruth Westheimer is an American sex therapist, media personality, and author. Best known as Dr. Ruth, the New York Times described her as a "Sorbonne-trained psychologist who became a kind of cultural icon in the 1980s...
, Antarctica explorer Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
, Congressman Bob Barr
Bob Barr
Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. is a former federal prosecutorand a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of...
, Colombian President Victor Mosquera Chaux
Victor Mosquera Chaux
Víctor Mosquera Chaux was a Colombian lawyer and politician who, as Presidential Designate, served as President of Colombia ad interim for 8 days from February 3 to February 11, 1981...
, John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
, Avery Dulles, U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
, Christina Hoff Sommers
Christina Hoff Sommers
Christina Hoff Sommers is an American author and former philosophy professor who is known for her critique of late 20th century feminism, and her writings about feminism in contemporary American culture...
, Congressman Asa Hutchinson
Asa Hutchinson
William Asa Hutchinson is a former U.S. Attorney for the Fort Smith-based Western District of Arkansas, U.S. Congressman from the Third District of Arkansas, Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the first-ever Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security at the U.S...
, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson
Alphonso Jackson
Alphonso Jackson served as the 13th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development . He was nominated by President George W. Bush on January 28, 2004 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on March 31, 2004. On March 31, 2008, Jackson announced his resignation, effective April 18,...
, Playwright and Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and U.S. Congresswoman, representing the state of Connecticut.-Early life:...
, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek Soong May-ling
Soong May-ling
Soong May-ling or Soong Mei-ling, also known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek or Madame Chiang was a First Lady of the Republic of China , the wife of Generalissimo and President Chiang Kai-shek. She was a politician and painter...
, Kenny Mayne
Kenny Mayne
Kenneth "Kenny" Wheelock Mayne is a sports journalist and comedian for ESPN.-Sports career:A native of Kent, Washington, Mayne is a former honorable mention junior college All-American quarterback in 1978 at Wenatchee Valley Community College in Wenatchee, WA...
, Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds
-Life:Sharon Olds was born in 1942 in San Francisco. She was raised as a “hellfire Calvinist”, as she describes it. She says she was by nature "a pagan and a pantheist" and notes "I was in a church where there was both great literary art and bad literary art, the great art being psalms and the bad...
, César Pelli
César Pelli
César Pelli is an Argentine architect known for designing some of the world's tallest buildings and other major urban landmarks. In 1991, the American Institute of Architects listed Pelli among the ten most influential living American architects...
, National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft
Brent Scowcroft
Brent Scowcroft, KBE was the United States National Security Advisor under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush and a Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force. He also served as Military Assistant to President Richard Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National...
, and Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
, inventor of the Hydrogen Bomb.
Each week, members of the Society engage in spirited debate on matters ranging from current events to philosophy and law to humorous topics. Members frequently present original works of Literature and Poetry or give readings of the works of other authors. Each semester, the Society holds a number of competitive Debate, Oratorical, and Literature events, and engages other organizations in friendly contests of debate or athletic skill. The Society hosts several formal events annually, including Wilson's Day, the Restoration Ball, and Founder's Day - first held in 1832.
Membership
A student at the University who wishes to join the Jefferson Society must sit for an interview process and complete a semester as a Probationary Member. One of these requirements is that of a probationary presentation, an oral presentation that is delivered in front of The Hall and critiqued by a Regular Member. Upon successful fulfillment of all requirements, he or she crosses into the Regular Membership of the society, which includes current undergraduate and graduate students of the University. When Regular Members end their enrollment at the University, they become Associate Members of the Society, and may elect to become a Lifetime Member. The Jefferson Society grants Honorary Membership to distinguished individuals who have rendered exceptional service.Once a member, the society functions primarily as a social gathering. The main focus of the weekly meetings are the review of probationary presentations for the current probationary class. Most meetings also host a speaker on a certain topic, but the speaker generally delivers the address within the first half of the meeting. Meetings can last until the early hours of the morning; this rests generally on the whims of the Regular Members.
History
The Jefferson Society was founded on July 14, 1825, by sixteen disgruntled members of the now-defunct Patrick Henry Society in Room Seven, West Lawn, where a member of the society continues to live to this day. In the 186 years since then, the history of the Society has been the history of the University itself: no other organization has been active for as many years in the life of the school and her students.Membership in the Society grew rapidly in the early years after its founding, and it finally secured a permanent meeting place in Hotel C (originally designed as a dining hall) on the West range. The Society and Hotel C have been synonymous since. Hotel C is known as "Jefferson Hall," and Society members refer to both the Society and Hotel C as the "Hall."
The new accommodations allowed the Society to take a prominent role in the Social life in the mid 19th century. Before fraternities and athletics were en vogue, the several literary and debating organizations on grounds were at the epicenter of the social scene: The Jefferson Society held numerous cotillions and dances in the hall and in the Dome Room of the Rotunda.
By 1855, the University of Virginia was the second largest University in the nation after Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, enrolling 645 students. That school year, the Society admitted 155 new members: nearly a quarter of the student body of the University. The Hall thrived in its prosperity, forming literary publications, giving scholarships, donating books to the University's libraries, and endowing a stone for the building of the Washington Monument
Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington...
, where the name of the Society may still be seen inscribed in the stone at the 270th-foot landing.
The Society played a key role in establishing student journalism at the University, founding the University Magazine as early as 1856. Later known as the Virginia Spectator, the paper played a major part in University life for a century, with its profile ranging from high seriousness to satire, until being shut down by the president of the University in the late 1950s for obscenity. The Jefferson Society sponsored the magazine for many decades.
The United States Civil War threatened the existence of the Society, who donated most of its funds to the cause of the Confederacy. During the war The Hall was used as a hospital for Confederate troops, and the Society met elsewhere. The Society regained its vigor after the War and by the turn of the century, it began to focus on the more formal aspects of forensics, collaborating with the Washington Literary Society and Debating Union
Washington Literary Society and Debating Union
The Washington Literary Society and Debating Union is a literary and debating group at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville...
in 1913 to form the Virginia High School Debate League, an organization that hosts thousands of secondary school students in debate to this day.
Both of the World Wars threatened the health of the Society, which now had to compete with a robust Greek Life and a thriving athletics scene. In a now familiar pattern, however, the Society revitalized at the end of the Wars. William Faulkner visited the Society, the Moomaw Oratorical Contest began, and membership numbers leapt. In 1965, the Society became the first organization at the University to admit African-Americans; women graced the membership of the Hall two years later.
The Jefferson Society went through a tumultuous time in the early 1990s. The Cavalier Daily
The Cavalier Daily
The Cavalier Daily is the fully independent student-run newspaper at the University of Virginia, founded in 1890. It is the oldest daily college newspaper in Virginia and the oldest newspaper in Charlottesville, Virginia...
student newspaper and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
printed accusations that members of the Society made unwanted sexual advances toward "probationary" members. Additionally, the Society was accused of violating the University's alcohol policy by allowing alcohol into Jefferson Hall. The Board of Visitors conducted an investigation and concluded that the accusation of systemic sexual impropriety was unfounded – rather, that one individual had acted inappropriately and that the organization's leadership acted quickly and appropriately to punish that member. However, the Society was found to be in violation of alcohol policy and, as such, lost control of Jefferson Hall for the Fall 1993 semester. Since then, alcohol has not been permitted inside Jefferson Hall during its meetings.
In April of 2008, the Sons of Liberty, a recent secret society at the University, reacted to the perceived bias in favor of Jefferson Society members who apply to live on the Range. The Sons of Liberty pulled a prank on a member of the Jefferson Society—pouring tea down his chimney—for which the Sons of Liberty later apologized.
Historical possessions
- The Society owns the original of one of Thomas SullyThomas SullyThomas Sully was an American painter, mostly of portraits.-Early life:Sully was born in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, to the actors Matthew and Sarah Sully. In March 1792 the Sullys and their nine children immigrated to Richmond, Virginia, where Thomas’s uncle managed a theater...
's two paintings of Thomas Jefferson, one of the only surviving portraits of Jefferson drawn from life and valued at several million dollars. It is on loan to the University and hangs in the RotundaThe Rotunda (University of Virginia)The Rotunda is a building located on The Lawn in the original grounds of the University of Virginia. It was designed by Thomas Jefferson to represent the "authority of nature and power of reason" and was inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Construction began in 1822 and was completed in 1826, after...
. - A second significant artifact is the Society's Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
signature. Poe signed the minutes book one evening during which he served as secretary pro tem: a signature that was later clipped out by Lancelot Blackford, a UVa student in the 1850s—stealing it, yet also saving it, as it turned out, from the Great Rotunda Fire of 1895. Society alumni in the early 1980s raised the money to buy the signature from a collector, in honor of their friend and fellow alumnus, James F. Perz. The signature is kept in secure storage as part of the University library's special collections. - One of the Society's roll books contains the signature of Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
during his tenure as the Society's President. The Society's minute books contain many sets of minutes written and signed by Wilson when he was the Society's Secretary.
Famous members
- Colgate DardenColgate DardenColgate Whitehead Darden, Jr. was a Democratic Congressman from Virginia , the 54th Governor of Virginia , Chancellor of the College of William and Mary and the third President of the University of Virginia...
, former president of the University of VirginiaUniversity of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and Governor of Virginia. - Deidre DownsDeidre DownsDeidre Downs is a beauty pageant contestant and winner of Miss America 2005. She is from Birmingham, Alabama. As part of her year of service as Miss America, she campaigned for Curing Childhood Cancer. For her talent, she sang a rendition of the ballad "I'm Afraid This Must Be Love"...
, Miss America 2005 - Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
- James MadisonJames MadisonJames Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
(accepted honorary membership) - James MonroeJames MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
(accepted honorary membership) - Jim GilmoreJim GilmoreJames Stuart "Jim" Gilmore III is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia, former 68th Governor of Virginia, and a member of the Republican Party. A native Virginian, Gilmore studied at the University of Virginia, and then served in the U.S. Army as a counterintelligence agent...
, Virginia Governor - John CasteenJohn T. Casteen IIIJohn Thomas Casteen III is an American educator. He has served as Professor of English and President of the University of Virginia from 1990 through 2010.-Early life and career:...
, Former President of the University of Virginia - Margaret ThatcherMargaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
(accepted honorary membership) - Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
- Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of HadleyGordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of HadleyGordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley, GBE, PC, QC was a British jurist specialising in European and International Law, and a former judge of the European Court of Justice and Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.-Early life:...
(accepted honorary membership) - Gilbert du Motier (accepted honorary membership)