Summer Meeting: Saturday, June 29th

This year’s summer meeting is on Saturday, the 29th of June. If you’re an incoming freshman looking to answer the question “what can I do after orientation to get a feel for the real UGA?”, visiting Phi Kappa hall that evening will be the answer you have been in search of. Stay tuned on PhiKappa.org for the announcement of the debate topic and a more in-depth run-down of the weekend’s events.

But, for a quick overview, our summer meetings are similar to our regular meetings (that take place Thursdays during the school year at 7pm in Phi Kappa Hall). We chose a topic and slug it out with the strongest weaopons we can legally unleash on UGA campus: our booming voices that lob logic bombs at our enemies.

The main difference is that it’s quite warm outside and you have the pleasure of meeting more of our illustrious young alumni than you usually would.

So, here’s to seeing you on UGA’s North campus in about two weeks!

Fall 2013 Officers

Our officers for Fall 2013 are as follows:

1. President: Brother Matthew Tyler
2. First Assistant: Sister Abie Smith
3. Second Assistant: Brother Dominic Giordano
4. Chief Justice: Sister Fiallos
5. Associate Justices: Sister Katherine La Mantia and Sister Kassidy Dean
6. Clerk: Sister Ashley Gravlin
7. Clavinger: Brother C.J. Brown
8. Treasurer: Sister Melina Lewis
9. Historian: Brother Graham Hord
10. Censor: Brother Stanton Kincaid
11. Webmaster: Brother Walker Smith

Congratulations to all of the officers and may we have the best semester yet under their guindance. It’s one of the most well-rounded selections we have seen in quite a long time. 

Of Rupaul and RFK

There’s much to be said about structure. From a speech, to a paper, and even to a TV show, structure is essential. Structure allows for the proper flow from one part to another. Structure can speed and slow your mind as it’s pulled down a path from on point to the next.

An interesting difference in structure on the page and structure in spoken language is that the two can differ drastically. Every Phi Kappa president is given the same script for a meeting. Each approaches it differently and each reign had a distinct feel. Sister Baker would bounce through business rapidly with a few funny jokes thrown in. Brother Hawk liked to spend extra time reminding you of heritage and history—his business sections were a bit longer.

Each individual, no matter if they are following a script for a meeting or reading a speech, will produce a different result. If I were to read Rober F. Kennedy’s speech to Indianapolis announcing the Martin Luther King, Jr had been assasinated, you would (probably) not feel the chill that his voice is able to illicit. I am simply not RFK and it would be painfully obvious. 

And that—yes, that—brings me to RuPAul’s Drag Race.

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Working 9 to 5, What a Way to Make a Living

When a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society approaches you at an activity fair or after class and tells you about the society, they will probably mention that Henry W. Grady refered to Phi Kappa as the best education he recieved at any point in his life. That has to be a bit of a stretch, right? I certainly believed so and repeated the annecdote (mostly) in jest as an interesting starting point when talking to possible new members. 

I was incredibly wrong—and this is how I found out: I started work. Yes, some time after tumble out of bed and stumblr to the kitchen to pour my self a cup of ambition—but befoer I make the long trek home—I grow to appreciate what I have learned in Phi Kappa a little more each day. 

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Debate March 7, 2013 - "Ought the University System Board of Regents Repeal its Ban on Undocumented Students?"

Please join the Phi Kappa Literary Society on March 7th as we discuss arguably one of the most cotroversial policies of the USG Board of Regent’s:  it’s ban on undocumented students. Brother Walker Smith will be first affirming, and Brother Ben Woodard will be first negating. Guests are encouraged to speak and ask questions as well. 

We will also be hosting guest speaker Richard Milligan, a Ph.D candidate in the UGA Department of Geography and organizer with the Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition. He will be delivering a guest oration titled “Celebrating Courage, Sponsoring Fear: The Ban on Undocumented Students 50 Years after Desegregation at UGA”.

The Definitions for the Debate are as follows:

Ought- “Should”, this is a good old fashioned normative debate. The University has a moral obligation to allow the following.

The University of Georgia System- All chartered state educational institutions. Community colleges already allow, whether explicitly or by enforcement, undocumented students.

Repeal the ban- Allow the affected parties to attend classes and attain an accredited degree.

Undocumented students- Any enrolled or formally enrolled student of the University who was born to foreign parents in a foregin nation, currently live in the United States and do not possess a visa or any other form of legal documentation.