Programs
The Societies meet every Monday night at 7:30 on the top floor of New West while classes are in session. Meetings are held in the Dialectic Society Chamber, on the 3rd floor of New West, an academic building near the center of campus. Debates are held under the guidelines of parliamentary procedure and adhere to a modified Robert's Rules of Order. Resolutions are drafted in advance. For each debate, four members are scheduled as speakers: a primary affirmative and primary negative, who are both given seven minutes to deliver a speech, and a secondary affirmative and secondary negative, who are both given five minutes to speak. After delivering a speech, speakers must field queries from fellow senators and guests.
After the four scheduled speakers have finished, the President recognizes speakers from the floor. Speakers from the floor may be members or guests. When time has elapsed for debate, the Societies hold two votes. The first is open to anyone in the chamber while the second is open only to active senators. Anyone may abstain from voting, although this is lightheartedly frowned upon and is usually met with hisses and jeers. The result of the vote is entered into the Societies' archives.
Business of the Societies follows the program, Old and then New. Reports of Officers are made at this time.
The most popular part of the meeting is known as PPMA: Papers, Petitions, Memorials, and Addresses. Historically, they are assigned by class, with freshman presenting Papers, sophomore Petitions, and so forth; however, anyone is free to speak on any topic. Since this portion of the evening often has the most speakers, time limits are generally kept at five minutes; decorum suggests the speaker requests an extension before beginning to speak. There are no time limits for Memorials.
The Report of the Critic concludes the meeting; members and interested guests then adjourn to the top floor of New East for light refreshment and to foster the "bonds of amity."
Read more about this topic: Dialectic And Philanthropic Societies
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