October 23rd, 2022
By: Noah Bryant-Hooper
References
Presentation Script
In the research I conducted, I analyzed the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Di-Phi), the oldest student organization on campus. In my research, I intended to figure out how debate and civil disagreement create a culture of camaraderie and strengthen the bond between all members of the organization.
In my observations, I noticed the members’ formality in the clothing they had on as a lot of members were dressed in collard button downs and nice dress pants. Furthermore, the meeting was held in New West, one of the older buildings on campus, which really put tradition in the air. Another thing that stood out during the beginning of the observation was how close everyone was to each other as there was constant banter and conversation across the entire room. This gave me a warm feeling that made me feel as if I was truly at home. Despite this, what solidified that this was a welcoming club for me was one of the head senators greeting me and getting to know me before the event, even though I had an extremely comfortable attire compared to everyone else in the room.
The room fell silent as the gavel hit the table at the start of the meeting, this made it obvious that members held their senators in high regard. The senators moved to a back room for a brief leadership meeting. They came out and explained the meeting procedures. I quickly caught onto this procedure as the first person went up to give their speech on if U.S (United States) territories should be recognized as states. After giving their speech, several people raised their hand and would contest or agree with the arguments made throughout. Although there was disagreement in every person’s speech, people were civil. That is, until someone had made a fascist argument when contesting one of the speeches. When this happened, the head senator stopped everything and had the other senators take a vote to ban this person. It was obvious that everyone was in unison throughout the meeting as people were acting turned off in their body language as soon as it happened
Despite that one hiccup, debate and civil disagreement had little to no effect on relationships as the group really showed a true sense of camaraderie. This camaraderie really jumped out in my interview with the new member of the group, Daniel Gallagher. Daniel proved this as he had already been on a hiking trip with some people in the group despite him being fresh to the organization. This ran parallel to my experience as I was welcomed with open arms at the beginning of the meeting. In my observations, I found out that debating in a formal setting really brings people in Di-Phi closer as they get to truly learn from one another. This also proves to be true as disagreements do not carry over to the outside world, which proves that this is a mature group who knows how to handle disagreement.
Explication of Research
Preface:
The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies (Di-Phi) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the oldest student-run organization on campus. Di-Phi is a debate society on campus that meets once a week to debate and discuss important issues. I chose to examine this subculture at UNC because I grew up in a household that loved to talk about politics at the dinner table. Although this was family bonding time, things often got intense and hostile, but ultimately, we were able to get over our differences politically and move on as a family. This anecdote runs parallel to my research question as I wanted to figure out if debate created a culture of camaraderie and made the bond between group members stronger.
Background Information:
Within Di-Phi, it is headed by several senators who oversee all the meetings and explain the procedure of the gatherings. While being the overall head of these gatherings, one of their main objectives is to make sure that all members are participating in civil discourse during the meetings. While members of this group may disagree on certain topics, it is important to the senators that composure is kept as chaos can ruin the reputation and long tradition of the club. This would be a bad look on the club because Di-Phi alums often come to observe the meetings for nostalgic reasons. Because composure is kept throughout meetings under the senators monitorization, this already ran parallel to the research I did as a 2019 article from Catherine Gewertz, writer at Education Weekly and Education Digest, explained that high school students benefit from the teaching of civil discourse exercises in classrooms. Gewertz highlighted this by observing a high school teacher’s classroom in the Rocky Mountains. From what she gathered; students had to back up information with evidence, and repeat the argument made to them to confirm that they listened to everything the other person said. Gewertz concluded that exercises like this create a safe space for students and allow them to be comfortable and not have to deal with overly intense confrontations when discussing important issues (Gewertz, 2019). This exercise runs parallel to my research question as I wanted to figure out if debating in a formal setting creates camaraderie, and the main aspect of camaraderie involves being comfortable with one another, despite certain disagreements.
Observations and Analysis
My first observation was Monday, October 3rd from 7:30 to 10:00 pm in New West, one of the older buildings on UNC’s campus. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was how formal the setting was. I was highly underdressed for the occasion as I was wearing pajama pants and a hoodie. Due to the clothes I chose to wear, I did not want to be seen very much, so I went to the back of the room and found and found the first open seat I saw. As I opened my computer to take notes, I was shocked to look up and see the head senator greeting me, despite me being an obvious outsider given the attire I had on. Although I was not a part of the organization, this interaction made me feel as if I was and gave me a warm, at-home feeling. In our conversation I was surprised to find out we had some things in common as we were both transfer students from small schools, this aspect of the conversation was the moment I knew I was comfortable with the group. While I was talking to one of the senators I could already sense that there was lots of camaraderie within the organization a there was plenty of banter before the start of the meeting.
As I settled in, the senator I spoke to hit the gavel loudly, beginning the meeting. After this, all the senators went to a back room through different doors which gave me the impression that they were having a pre-meeting discussion. At this point, I noticed there was an obvious power difference between the senators and the regular members as the entire room became silent. When the senators came out to start the meeting, they all slammed the door behind them very hard and started to explain the procedure of the meeting loudly. After the procedure of the meeting was put forth, they did introductions where everyone had to say their first name and what county they are from. I was nervous when I had to do this as I felt like an outsider based on how I was dressed, even after being treated like a member at the beginning of the meeting. I was also feeling a sense of doubt as most of the kids in the room seemed very smart, which makes sense as I was observing a debate society. Once the introductions were over, they went into speeches, with the one of the questions that night being “should U.S territories become states?”. When people gave their speeches, if someone disagreed with the person giving the speech, they could contest their argument by asking them questions, usually, debate unfolded from that point. Once the top senator felt like there were enough argument contests, she would end that person’s segment, and everyone would clap. The process would repeat as a total of about seven people gave speeches. Although the organization is a space for open and civil discourse, one person was kicked out and banned due to them making a fascist argument during their contest to someone’s speech. The head senator then asked the other senators to take a vote to add that person to the ban list, which resulted in a majority. They then asked the person to leave, and they cooperated with no issue. Although this was an unexpected event that shook things up, everyone was in unison to kick this person out as I noticed the body language and gossip of members. This also showed camaraderie as everyone was on the same page in this situation and comfortable enough with their peers to let them know that the person who made that argument was in the wrong, no matter what political disagreements they had.
In my second observation, I got to interview sophomore, Daniel Gallagher on Friday, October 7th from 8:00 to 8:30 pm in Craige North Residence Hall. After seeing Di-Phi and how it was run, it was a pleasure to get to sit down with a fellow member of the organization, sophomore Daniel Gallagher. When the interview started, I was genuinely curious about his background and why he decided to join the club. Daniel comes from an interesting background as his mother is Lithuanian and his father is Irish. Growing up he has always heavily identified with his Irish side as he talked about dad’s Irish flag that was passed down to him that hangs in his dorm room today. After going in depth about his background, he explained his reasoning for joining Di-Phi, and it was basically to meet new friends and discuss controversial topics he was passionate about. Daniel especially emphasized meeting friends though as he is a transfer student from UNC Charlotte. Although these things were interesting, what most stood out about my interview with Daniel was how close he had gotten to some of the members despite him being new to the organization. Daniel told me that he had gone on a hiking trip with some of the members and even told me that some of the members in the group had political ideologies on the opposite side of the spectrum. This proved that members of the organization can bond and show true camaraderie despite political differences.
Conclusion
Throughout my research, I was unsure if I was going to end up being able to say that the organization displayed camaraderie despite disagreements on controversial topics, but I am now able to. When I first walked into my observations, I assumed that the organization was going to be elitist and not open to outsiders, but this was not the case as both people I encountered throughout the entire process were great towards me. In the research process, it was great familiarizing myself with Di-Phi and I would go and observe again on my own time as I learned a lot from smart students discussing these important topics.
References
Gewertz, C (2019, Sep/Oct). Students learn to put the ‘civil’ in civil discourse. Education Digest,19-23. https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/docview/2312359560?pq-origsite=summon