Hampden-Sydney College · Founded 1789
The oldest student organization at Hampden-Sydney and the oldest debating society in continuous operation in the United States. Every Sunday evening the Society debates a resolution in public, and everyone in the room votes.
Concordiæ Societas
Established 22 September 1789
Me socium summis adjungere rebus
I wish to ally myself with the greatest things.
Fraternitas Philanthropica
Founded March 1805 · re-established 1807
Aude sapere
Dare to be wise.
The Society
The Union Society was established on 22 September 1789. The Philanthropic Society followed in 1805. For more than a century the two were rivals: they competed for members, furnished their halls to outdo each other, and built libraries of classical authors, English literature, and rare books. By 1835 the Philanthropic library was larger than the College's own. In September 1929 the two merged under Graves Thompson, then president of the Philanthropic Society, and both continue today as one society.
The purpose has stayed the same. Members get better at speaking and reasoning by doing it every week, in public, in front of people who disagree with them.
Every Sunday
Debates are open to every student, professor, and guest. Anyone may speak from the floor, and at the end everyone in the room votes on the resolution. You don't need any experience in speech or debate. Dress is coat and tie.
Every Sunday
Joining
There is no application. The Society looks for an interest in public discussion, a thirst for learning, a friendly manner, and good character, and it finds those qualities in the people who come to its debates and take part.
Come to the Sunday debates and speak from the floor.
Each term the Society summons a few regular participants to join as Junior Members.
The Society also elects Honorary Members from among public figures and scholars whose work it judges exemplary.
Customs
Each fall, members gather at the Society's tree beside the Watkins Bell Tower, planted about fifty years ago, to read the preamble to the Philanthropic Society's constitution.
Built in 2026 beside the tree, from bricks left over from the Pauley Science Center. Two alumni of the Society, Michael Van Citters ’22 and James Garrison ’22, helped bring it about.
The Society keeps paintings of Founding Fathers and early trustees of the College, along with the thrones, reredos, and dais of its Hall. Its historic books are on the fourth floor of Bortz Library, readable in the stacks.
From the roll
Ninth President of the United States; among the Union Society's earliest members.
Son of Patrick Henry, a founding trustee of the College.
Re-established the Philanthropic Society in 1807; later a noted surgeon.
Led the 1929 merger; taught Latin at Hampden-Sydney for 54 years, the longest tenure in the College's history.
Theologian and founder of the L'Abri community in Switzerland.
Rhodes Scholar, professor of classics, and historian of the College.
Fall 2026
The Senior Members, who have delivered their oration and been inducted into full membership, and the Junior Members preparing to join them. The officers are elected by the Membership at the end of each semester.
Convenes and presides over the Society and represents it in public.
[Bio: two or three sentences, such as hometown, major, when he was inducted, and his oration topic.]
Advises on procedure, takes the roll, and keeps order at meetings. Presides when the President is absent.
[Bio: two or three sentences, such as hometown, major, when he was inducted, and his oration topic.]
Looks after the Hall and the Society's property.
[Bio: two or three sentences, such as hometown, major, when he was inducted, and his oration topic.]
Keeps the minutes, the archives, and the Society's correspondence.
[Bio: two or three sentences, such as hometown, major, when he was inducted, and his oration topic.]
Keeps the accounts, prepares the budget, and directs fundraising.
[Bio: two or three sentences, such as hometown, major, when he was inducted, and his oration topic.]
The member of the faculty who serves as the Society's advisor.
Weekly debates
A new resolution every Sunday at 6 p.m. in the UPLS Hall at Schaeffer House. Free and open to the public, coat and tie. Anyone may speak, and everyone present votes.
Resolved:
Jury Nullification Undermines Justice.
Sunday, October 18, 2026
6 PM, UPLS Hall at
Schaeffer House
This is a topic for debate and not the official stance of the Union-Philanthropic.
Dress code is coat and tie
Free and Open to the Public
For more information please contact Satchel Bowling, bowlings27@hsc.edu.
No debate on Sunday, October 11, during the College's fall break.
From the minute books
One question from each of five volumes of the Union and Philanthropic minutes, with the date it was argued and how the Society decided it. A new set appears every Sunday at midnight Eastern.
Questions and decisions are given as the Society recorded them, with spelling and punctuation corrected.
2026–27
The Society's gatherings beyond the weekly debate.
Alumni of the Society are invited back to the House during Homecoming Weekend. [RSVP details.]
The Society's formal spring ball. Invited guests may bring a companion. Heavy hors d'oeuvres and refreshments, with dancing to follow. [RSVP deadline and contact.] See the invitation and details.
[One or two sentences on what Convocation is and who attends.]
Free and open to the public. See the resolutions.
Events President's Ball
Concordiæ Societatis Sigilla Fraternitatisque Philanthropicæ
The Union-Philanthropic Society
requests the presence of your company and a guest
at the
Saturday, the [Date] of April
Beginning at Six O'Clock
Bortz Library
at Hampden-Sydney College
Heavy Hors d'oeuvres and Refreshments
with dancing to follow
R.S.V.P. by the [date]
[RSVP link or email]
Black Tie Attire
Spring 2027
Questions about the Ball go to upls1789@gmail.com.
The Society in pictures
Debates, the Hall, and the Society's events.
The Hall at Schaeffer House
Concept drawings for restoring the Society's debate hall. Plan A keeps the current room and reworks its seating for 69. Plan B removes the restrooms and moves the left wall out 70″, with tiered seating for 74.
Restrooms stay, each 150″ along the wall and drawn 70″ deep, and so does the 47″ × 28½″ HVAC closet between their doors. Three straight rows run down each side from the dais end to the front wall, facing a 66″ clear aisle, with a rectangular rug down the aisle and the Thompson lectern 72″ closer to the doors than in B. There is no center table. The outer row on each side sits on an 18″ wooden riser, with a 9″ step in front of it carrying the middle row; neither runs in front of the restroom doors. On the left it stops short of the men's room door, leaving open floor from there to the HVAC closet, and picks up again near the far end of the women's room door, so most of that doorway is open floor too. The Philanthropic Society Mirror hangs on the front wall between the doors and the right riser, and the Dean Garland portrait hangs on the other side, between the doors and the left riser. On the left riser, which runs up to the men's room door jamb, the Additional Senior Member sits in the back-left corner, then the Treasurer, then the Society Critic. The Clerk sits at the head of the right riser, directly across the room from the Treasurer, with the clerk's desk in front of him on an 18″ step-out of the same riser. The Reviewers sit closer in, in front of the backdrop columns, each on a white 6″ stage beside the dais that wraps around the column base back to the wall (neither has a side table in A). The Shakespeare bust stands on the right 18″ riser between the Clerk's chair and the back wall, turned to face the room. There is no bookcase in A, and every riser runs right back to the back wall. The rows run straight across both restroom doors and the side door, breaking only at the closet.
Restrooms and closet removed, left wall moved out 70″. An octagonal marble center table stands on the rug halfway between the dais and the Thompson lectern. The banks step up in 6″ tiers: inner row on the floor, middle row +6″, outer row +12″, and in each front corner an 18″ tier behind the outer row carries a fourth row: six chairs on the left, three on the right, where the tier stops short of the landing inside the front doors. Behind that, a 24″ tier fills each front corner out to the walls and carries a fifth row of two chairs a side, again kept clear of the landing. The clerk's desk group sits on its own +6″ platform, and the Senior Member filing cabinet stands in the back-right corner. The clerk's desk sits just below the dais on the right, facing the center, with four chairs along the wall behind it. The bank rows run in front of the side door, which closes it off. The Philanthropic Society Mirror hangs on the back wall in the back-left corner, above the Society Critic. There are no bookcases. The front doors stay in their current spot, 35″ right of the new centerline, so the entry gap sits slightly left of them.
Cut 112″ from the back wall, through the straight part of both banks. Ceiling here is 130¾″. Seated figures use a 31″ eye height above the seat; the dashed lines show the middle and outer rows looking over the heads in front to the President.
Standing just inside the front doors where B reads 48″ clear, eyes 64″ up, looking straight down the aisle to the dais. The paneling on the right is cut around the existing 37″ × 45″ windows (sill 40″, head 85″): the farthest shows in full, the second runs off the edge and the third is beside you. Back-wall items are drawn flat at the wall, and the back-wall windows are left out as in C and D.
| Piece | Plan size (W × D) | Height | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Society chair (rush seat, ladder back) | 19″ × 15″ | Seat 20½″, back 36″ | Bank seats and the row behind the clerk |
| Officer's chair (upholstered armchair) | 23½″ × 22″ | Seat 21″, back 44″ | President, Reviewers, Clerk, Critic, Treasurer, Senior Member |
| Thompson lectern | About 18″ × 15″ (est.) | 45″, 2″ black top | Center aisle; 257″ from back wall in A, 185″ in B |
| Center table (black marble, mahogany) | 42″ octagon | 29″ | B only, on the rug |
| Clerk's desk (medium brown) | 27½″ × 18″ | 33″, sloping to 30″ | Right bank, facing the center |
| Dais (white wood) | 47½″ × 48″ | 9¼″ | President |
| Backdrop (columns, curtained door) | 70″ wide | 87″ above the dais | Behind the President |
| Reviewers' stages (A only, white) | About 25″ × 49″ each | 6″ | Either side of the dais |
| Ottoman | 13″ × 13″ | 7½″ | In front of the throne |
| First Reviewer's table (white marble top) | 16″ × 16″ | 32″ | B only, at the First Reviewer's right |
| Shakespeare bust on stand | Bust 15″ wide | 21″ on a 42″ stand | On the right riser by the Clerk in A; beside the Second Reviewer in B |
| Second Reviewer's table | 23″ × 12″ | 27″ | On the right riser against the back wall in A; right wall in B |
| Desk lamps (two in B, one in A) | 12″ wide | 12″ | On the Reviewers' tables |
| Oak paneling | About 2″ deep | Floor to ceiling | Every wall, cut at doors and windows |
| Right-wall windows (three, existing) | 37″ wide | About 45″ | Sill 40″, head 85″ (assumed) |
| Seating tiers (B only) | 32″ treads | +6″, +12″, +18″, +24″ | Middle and outer rows, clerk's platform; +18″ fourth row and +24″ fifth row in the front corners |
| Side risers (A only, wood) | 33″ deep | 18″ | Under the outer row along each side wall |
| Middle-row risers (A only, wood) | About 30½″ deep | 9″ | In front of the 18″ risers, under the middle rows |
| HVAC closet (A only, existing) | 47″ × 28½″ | Floor to ceiling | Left wall, between the restroom doors |
| Chandelier (brass, 12 candles) | 32″ across | Hangs to 103½″ | Room center, B only; after Venable Hall and Johns Auditorium |
| Ceiling beams (five, oak) | 12″ × about 8″ | 103″ wall to 141″ ridge | 60″ apart, middle one on the dais, B only |
| Senior Member filing cabinet | 17¼″ × 17¼″ | 64″, six drawers | Back-right corner, B only |
| Portraits (two) | 34″ × 41″, 30″ × 36″ | Centered 75″ up | Over the Reviewers |
| Philanthropic Society Mirror (gilt, eagle) | 21″ wide | 42″ | Front wall in A; back wall, back-left corner in B |
| Dean Garland portrait (A only) | About 16″ × 16″ (est.) | Hung on the wall | Front wall, left of the doors |
| Floor (wide-plank oak) | 8″ boards | – | Throughout |
Giving
Gifts from members and alumni support the Hall, the weekly debates, and the Society's events. The Society is now raising money to renovate its debate hall at Schaeffer House over the next several years.
[What the renovation covers – seating, lighting, restoration of the dais, and so on – and the timeline.]
See the concept drawings for the Hall
The Society has done this before. It raised the money to restore Hampden-Sydney's Birthplace (c. 1756) and used it as its museum and meeting place from 1961 until it outgrew the building in 1992.
Give online
Scan the code or use the link. Gifts go to the Union-Philanthropic Literary Society.
Since 1789
Not all locations included.