PART II

DEBATING SOCIETIES:

ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

I. DIRECTIONS FOR ORGANIZING 1

1

The debating society should play an important part in our educational system. Such men as Macaulay, Scott and Stevenson have testified to the value of literary and debating societies in their education; and there is no reason why, at the present day, a debating society should not occupy an equally important place in training people to think on public questions and to discuss them.

Of itself, the debating society furnishes valuable training and experience. For one thing, the members benefit because of the practice that it gives in parliamentary procedure. This, of course, should promote precision, accuracy and orderliness. It should stimulate ingenuity in applying set principles and rules in a practical way. The knowledge of parliamentary law that is gained in a debating society may well be of value in the activities of after life.

As the background for more formal debates, the society is also of value. In the first place, from its membership it furnishes the debaters. It also furnishes the occasion and the audience. The presence of the debating society gives opportunity for engaging in debating in many forms. Impromptu discussions may be held. Extemporaneous debates may be conducted (the extemporaneous debate differs from the impromptu discussion, in that the general subject to be talked upon is thoroughly studied by the speakers, but the specific phase of the question is announced a few minutes before the discussion takes place.) Formal debates may be held in which two or three speakers present the affirmative and negative of the question and rebuttal objections are given according to fixed rules. Moreover, lectures and program discus

1 Drury, Newton B. How to Organize and Conduct a Debating Society. In California University. Debating and Debating Societies. p.

sions may take place and even mock trials may be engaged in if the members of the society have a legal bent.

In the organization of a debating society, there are two main steps: (1) The preliminary organization, and (2) the permanent organization.

Before the meeting at which the preliminary organization takes place is held, the field should be well canvassed. It should be determined just how much interest in the proposed debating society exists in the school or organization in question. Those who are interested should be urged to attend the first meeting in order that the project may be started with spirit. The time and place of the first meeting should be well advertised. A person who is interested and who is capable of presenting the plans of the society forcibly and with enthusiasm should be selected to preside as temporary chairman. It is necessary, also, to have certain people with ideas ready to lead the discussion as to the future plans of the society.

When the meeting has been called to order by the temporary chairman, a motion should be put and carried for the appointment of a constitution committee, and another for the appointment of a nominating committee. After a few speeches on the plans of the society, the meeting may then adjourn, to meet at an early date specified in the motion.

The constitution committee should consist of from three to five members and should meet and draw up a constitution to be presented to the society at its next meeting.

The nominating committee should prepare a list of the names to propose as candidates for president, vice president, secretary, and the other officers provided for in the constitution.

The second meeting, for the purpose of permanent organization, should take place shortly after the preliminary organization. At this time the temporary chairman should call for the report of the committee on the constitution and, article by article, the constitution should be read and discussed and voted upon. Then a vote should be taken upon the constitution in its final revised form as a whole. Next, election should be held of the various officers provided for in the constitution, according to the method laid down. After the permanent president of the society is elected, he should take the chair and conduct the election of the remaining officers. The standing committees provided for in the consti

tution may be appointed by the president then and there, or he may announce an intention to appoint them at the next meeting. The same action may be taken in regard to any special committees for which there is demand. At this meeting plans for the future activities of the society should be discussed and, if possible, some definite program should be arranged for the third meeting.

Certain suggestions may be made at this point in regard to the conducting of the debating society.

MEMBERSHIP

Members of the society should be chosen in some way that would make membership valued. It will not to do to make a debating society exclusive, but at the same time it is fatal and destroys all enthusiasm to have every person granted membership regardless of interest or qualification. Some such procedure as a tryout, in which the candidates for membership make speeches, might be followed.

SIZE

The size of the society should be limited, for much more effective work can be done by a debating society of from fifteen to twenty, than can be accomplished by a society of thirty to forty-five. In case there is a greater number desiring membership than can be advantageously admitted, a second society can be formed. The presence of another organization offers opportunity for competition, which is of great value.

MEETINGS

Meetings should be held once every two weeks. To hold meetings more frequently than every two weeks would be to put too great a tax upon their interest. If meetings are held less frequently than this, the interest is apt to lag between sessions.

PROGRAM

The program of the different meetings should be interesting and varied. An attempt should be made to secure persons of standing in the community as visitors or as speakers at occassional meetings.

CONDUCTING MEETINGS

Meetings should always be conducted in an orderly manner, and the person in the chair should not tolerate any form of disorder. However, too much stress should not be laid upon the observations of the minute rules and regulations of parliamentary law. Time spent in technical quibbling and mere parliamentary fencing is, to a large extent, time wasted. Much can be done by the presiding officer in making parliamentary practice worth while if he adopts a policy of observing broad, general principles of parliamentary procedure without putting too much emphasis upon purely technical points.

PUBLICITY

Considerable publicity should be given to the meetings and debates, for that attaches importance to the activity of the society, and makes the members more anxious to attend and take part.

COMPETITION

Through inviting competition among the members and among different debating societies, those in charge should endeavor to keep up interest. At given intervals formal debates with outside societies should be held, and trials should be conducted in the society for the purpose of selecting members to represent the organization as a team in these formal debates.

a. Model Constitution and By-Laws1

The Constitution and By-Laws given here are suggested in the hope that they may serve as a model for high school literary societies. They may be modified and amended, shortened or lengthened, as the society sees fit. They are modeled somewhat after the constitutions and by-laws of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Literary Societies of the University of North Carolina.

Constitution of the....

...Literary Society

PREAMBLE

Recognizing the permanent good that comes from individual self-expression and organized self-control we hereby form ourselves into a literary society, subject to the following constitution and by-laws.

1 North Carolina University Record. Extension Series No. 6. p. 47-54. January, 1914. Constitution and By-Laws for High School Literary

Societies.

CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE I

NAME AND MOTTO

SECTION I. The name of this society shall be-"The.

School may become by election an active member of this society, as provided for in Article II, Section 1, of the By-laws.

SECTION 2. Any person may become by election an honorary member of this society by vote of three fourths of the members present. He shall be entitled to all the privileges of an active member except voting and holding office.

ARTICLE III

GOVERNMENT

SECTION I. The government of this society shall be vested in a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, a Censor, a Critic, a Reporter, a Membership Committee, a Program Committee, and a Committee on the Constitution. In all cases of final appeal a vote of two thirds of the members present shall control.

SECTION 2. A special meeting may be called by the President. It shall be the duty of the President to see that the Secretary informs the members of such a meeting.

ARTICLE V

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

SECTION I. The first president every year shall appoint a committee of three, whose duty it shall be to secure, investigate, and report on all proposals for membership. This committee shall hold office throughout the school year.