Phi Kappa Literary Society

Phi Kappa Hall circa 1933

For other uses, see Phi Kappa (disambiguation).

The Phi Kappa Literary Society is a college literary society, located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.

The Society was founded in 1820 by Joseph Henry Lumpkin, later to become the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and eponym for the University of Georgia Lumpkin School of Law, and by William Crabbe, Edwin Mason, and Henry Mason, who formed the society after splitting from the Demosthenian Literary Society.

The Phi Kappa Literary Society is one of the few active literary societies left in America, meeting every academic Thursday at 7pm on the University Georgia's North Campus in Phi Kappa Hall. The Phi Kappa Literary Society holds formal debates and a forum for creative writing and poetry.

Phi Kappa Hall, one of the most architecturally unique buildings on the North Campus of the University of Georgia, was built at a cost of $5,000 and dedicated on July 5, 1836. For reasons unclear, there are no windows on the front of Phi Kappa Hall. The Phi Kappa Literary Society shares use of the Phi Kappa building with the Georgia Debate Union.

Traditions

On the occasion that guests are present at meetings of the Phi Kappa Literary Society, a traditional "Puerto Rican" or guest vote may be called for, allowing guests to take part in voting in favor of or against the resolution in question. Guests are welcome to come and speak at any meeting.

The Society is legendary for the quality of its ukulele playing, often dispensing with the routine business of the meeting to assemble on North Campus for a massive Don Ho sing-a-long.

Famous alumni

• Joseph Henry Lumpkin, First Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Georgia
• Howell Cobb, Secretary of U.S. Treasury, Constitutional Convention Chairman of the Confederate States of America
• Morris Berthold Abram, Founder of UN Watch, Permanent U.S. Ambassador to UN
• Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Confederate General, Editor of the first Georgia Code
• Alexander Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States of America, United States Representative
• Henry W. Grady, Editor of the Atlanta Constitution, Voice of the "New South" Movement
• Clark Howell, Pulitzer Prize-winning Editor of the Atlanta Constitution, founder of WGST 640 AM radio station, namesake of Georgia Institute of Technology's Howell Hall
• Eugene Talmadge, Governor of Georgia
• Thomas W. Hardwick, United States Senator from Georgia
• Richard B. Russell Jr., United States Senator from Georgia, President pro tempore of the United States Senate
• Ernest Vandiver, Governor of Georgia
• Herschel V. Johnson, Governor of Georgia, 1860 Democratic Party Vice-Presidential Nominee
• Carl Sanders, Georgia Governor
• Benjamin H. Hill, Confederate General, United States Senator from Georgia
• Phil Gramm, United States Senator from Texas
• William Tate, University of Georgia Dean of Men
• Nathaniel Harris, Governor of Georgia, Founder of Georgia Institute of Technology
• Francis S. Bartow, Confederate Congressman, Confederate General
• Henry L. Benning, Confederate General, Eponym of Fort Benning
• Augustus O. Bacon, United States Senator, President Pro Tempore
• Norman S. Fletcher, Chief Justice, Georgia Supreme Court 2001-2005
• Sam Massell, Mayor of Atlanta

Source Information

• Thomas G. Dyer's The University of Georgia: A Bicentennial History
• T.W. Reed's History of the University of Georgia

External references

• Phi Kappa Literary Society Web Site