The Philolexian Society of Columbia University is one of the oldest college literary and debate societies in the United States. Following is a partial list of Philolexian Society members organized by area of notability.
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Julian Clarence Levi | 1894 | Architect | [1] |
William Barclay Parsons | 1879 | Civil engineer and founder of Parsons Brinckerhoff | [2] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Horatio Allen | 1823 | President of Erie Railroad, civil engineer, and inventor | [3] [4] |
William Backhouse Astor Sr. | 1811 | Business magnate | [3] [4] |
William Backhouse Astor Jr. | 1849 | Businessman, racehorse owner and breeder, and yachtsman | [3] [4] |
Douglas Black | 1915 | President of Doubleday and Company | [2] [5] |
Stuyvesant Fish | 1871 | Illinois Central Railroad president | [6] [7] |
Robert Goelet | 1860 | Businessman and yachtsman | [3] [8] |
James Lenox | 1818 | President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, bibliophile, and philanthropist | [3] [4] |
Ward Melville | 1909 | Founding president of Thom McAn, Melville Corporation (CVS Health), and philanthropist behind Stony Brook University | [9] |
John Lloyd Stephens | 1822 | Founder and vice president of the Panama Railroad Company, Special Ambassador to Central America, explorer, and author | [10] [3] |
John Aikman Stewart | 1840 | Banker | [11] [3] |
William R. Travers | 1838 | Businessman and first president of the Saratoga Race Course | [2] [3] |
Lawrence Wien | 1925 | Real instate investor and attorney who pioneered real estate syndicates | [2] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
George Washington Bethune | 1823 | Preacher-pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church | [12] [3] [4] |
Jackson Kemper | 1809 | First missionary bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States | [3] [4] |
Thomas Merton | 1938 | Trappist monk, writer, theologian, and poet | [13] [14] |
James B. Nies | 1882 | Episcopal minister and Assyriologist | [15] |
Benjamin T. Onderdonk | 1809 | Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York | [3] [4] |
Henry Onderdonk | 1805 | Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania | [10] [3] [4] |
Marvin Vincent | 1854 | Presbyterian minister and professor | [16] [4] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Charles Anthon | 1815 | Classical scholar and educator | [3] [4] |
William Anthony Aery | 1904 | Professor of social science and director of education at the Hampton Institute, editor of the Southern Workman | [17] [18] [19] |
Donald Barr | 1941 | Dalton School headmaster | [20] |
Wm. Theodore de Bary | 1941 | East Asian scholar and Columbia University provost | [13] [21] |
Jacques Barzun | 1927 | Historian, provost, and University Professor at Columbia University | [22] [23] [24] [8] |
Robert Fulton Cutting | 1871 | President of Cooper Union, financier, and philanthropist | [4] |
Robert Emory | 1831 | President of Dickinson College | [2] [3] |
Dixon Ryan Fox | 1911 | Union College president | [25] [26] |
Mott T. Greene | 1967 | Historian of science and academic | [27] |
Robert Gutman | Sociologist and a lecturer in social and environmental studies at Princeton University's School of Architecture | [28] [29] [30] | |
Frank S. Hackett | 1899 | Educator, founder of Riverdale Country Day School, and pioneer in the Country Day School movement | [31] |
Carl Hovde | 1950 | Columbia College Dean | [2] |
James Hall Mason Knox | 1841 | Lafayette College president | [2] [3] |
Arthur MacMahon | 1912 | Political scientist and pioneer in the academic study of public administration | [26] |
Robert Marshak | 1936 | City College of New York president | [2] |
Brander Matthews | 1871 | Academic and literary critic | [6] [7] [4] |
Parker Thomas Moon | 1913 | Political scientist and researcher on international peace | [32] |
Nathaniel F. Moore | 1802 | President of Columbia College | [6] [3] [33] [4] |
Steven Raphael | 1963 | economist, professor of public policy at Goldman School of Public Policy, and adjunct fellow at Public Policy Institute of California | [27] |
Victoria Rosner | 1990 | Dean of NYU Gallatin School and ean of Academic Affairs at Columbia University | [8] [34] [35] |
Edwin R. A. Seligman | 1878 | Economist and academic | [36] |
William Milligan Sloane | 1868 | Historian, professor at Princeton University, and coach of the first U.S. Olympic team | [4] |
Howard Spodek | 1963 | Professor of history and geography and urban studies at Temple University | [27] |
Paul van K. Thomson | 1940 | Professor and vice president for academic affairs of Providence College, Catholic priest, and author | [37] |
John Howard Van Amringe | 1860 | Mathematician and the first Dean of Columbia College | [3] [4] |
Eugene Victor Wolfenstein | 1962 | Social theorist, psychoanalyst, and a professor of political science at University of California, Los Angeles | [24] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Sidney Buchman | 1923 | Film producer and Oscar-winning screenwriter | [2] |
I. A. L. Diamond | 1941 | Oscar-winning screenwriter | [2] |
Bernard M. L. Ernst | 1905 | Magician and associate of Harry Houdini. | [38] |
Orrin Keepnews | 1943 | Grammy-winning record producer | [8] |
William Ludwig | 1932 | Oscar-winning screenwriter and co-founder of the Writers Guild of America | [2] |
Robert C. Schnitzer | 1927 | Actor, producer, educator, and theater administrator | [39] [22] |
Ben Stein | 1966 | Actor, comedian, and commentator | [8] |
Garth Stein | 1987 | Academy Award-winning film producer, screenwriter, and novelist | [2] |
John La Touche | 1937 | Lyricist for Cabin in the Sky and The Golden Apple | [40] |
Kenneth Webb | 1906 | Film director, screenwriter, and composer | [41] |
Gideon Yago | 2000 | MTV personality | [2] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
James Warner Bellah | 1923 | Western writer | [50] |
Elliott V. Bell | 1925 | BusinessWeek publisher, a financial writer for The New York Times, and New York State Superintendent of Banks | [51] |
John Berryman | 1936 | poet, scholar, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry | [52] [53] |
Randolph Bourne | 1912 | Essayist and critic | [2] [54] |
McAlister Coleman | 1909 | Journalist, author, and political activist | [55] [56] |
David Cort | 1924 | foreign news editor of Life | [57] |
Julien T. Davies | 1866 | Writer | [58] |
Evert Augustus Duyckinck | 1835 | Biographer and publisher | [3] [4] |
Jason Epstein | 1949 | Co-founder of The New York Review of Books, co-founder of Library of America, and founder of Anchor Books | [59] |
Edgar Fawcett | 1867 | Novelist and poet | [4] |
William Dudley Foulke | 1869 | Literary critic, journalist, poet, and reformer | [45] |
Allen Ginsberg | 1948 | Poet, author, and winner of the National Book Award | [60] [61] [8] |
Robert Giroux | 1936 | Publisher, chairman and editor-in-chief of Farrar Straus & Giroux | [62] [53] |
Robert Gottlieb | 1952 | Editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, president and editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf, and editor of The New Yorker | [2] |
Alfred Harcourt | 1904 | Publisher and co-founder of Harcourt Brace; | [2] |
John Hollander | 1950 | Poet | [62] |
Richard Howard | 1951 | Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and translator | [63] |
Joyce Kilmer | 1908 | Poet and literary critic | [64] [65] |
Gustav Kobbé | 1877 | Music critic and author | [46] [4] |
Henry Demarest Lloyd | 1867 | Pioneer muckraking journalist and progressive political activist | [66] |
Jay Michaelson | 1993 | Writer, journalist, professor, rabbi, commentator on CNN, and a columnist for Rolling Stone | [8] |
John L. O'Sullivan | 1831 | Magazine editor and columnist who coined the phrase manifest destiny and U.S. Minister to Portugal | [2] [3] |
Sam Quinones | 1964 | Journalist and author | [8] |
Ed Rice | 1940 | Author, publisher, photojournalist, and painter | [13] |
Henry Morton Robinson | 1923 | Novelist | [67] |
Garth Stein | 1987 | Novelist and Academy Award-winning film producer | [68] |
George Templeton Strong | 1838 | Diarist | [2] [3] |
Ralph de Toledano | 1938 | Editor of Newsweek and the National Review , journalist, author, poet, and novelist | [54] |
Thomas Vinciguerra | 1985 | Journalist, editor, author, and founding editor of The Week | [54] [69] |
Walter Wager | 1944 | Novelist | [70] |
Samuel Ward | 1831 | Poet and lobbyist | [71] [3] [4] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Cornelius Rea Agnew | 1849 | Surgeon and medical director of the New York Volunteer Hospital | [3] [4] |
Gavin Arthur | 1924 | Sexologist, astrologer, actor, and magazine publisher | [57] |
Robert N. Butler | 1949 | Pulitzer Prize-winning gerontologist | [72] [73] |
James Chapin | 1916 | ornithologist and curator of the American Museum of Natural History | [5] |
Oliver Wolcott Gibbs | 1841 | Chemist and president of the National Academy of Sciences | [3] [4] |
Emory McClintock | 1859 | actuary | [74] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
John Chrystie | 1806 | War of 1812 veteran and namesake of Chrystie Street in Manhattan | [3] [4] |
Alfred Thayer Mahan | 1858 | Military theorist, United States naval officer, president of the Naval War College, and historian | [75] [3] [4] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Paul Governali | 1943 | Professional football player and coach | [2] |
William Milligan Sloane | 1868 | coach of the first U.S. Olympic team, historian, and professor at Princeton University | [2] [4] |
Name | Class | Notability | References |
---|---|---|---|
Lucien Carr | 1946 | Member of the original New York City circle of the Beat Generation and convicted murderer | [81] [28] |
Elbridge Thomas Gerry | 1857 | Social reformer, founder of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children | [82] [3] [83] |
Columbia University, officially Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private Ivy League research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States.
Jacques Martin Barzun was a French-born American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and classical music, and was also known as a philosopher of education. In the book Teacher in America (1945), Barzun influenced the training of schoolteachers in the United States.
The Philolexian Society of Columbia University is one of the oldest college literary and debate societies in the United States, and the oldest student group at Columbia. Founded in 1802, the society aims to "improve its members in Oratory, Composition and Forensic Discussion." The society traces its roots to a collegiate literary society founded in the 1770s by Alexander Hamilton, then a student at Columbia College, and was officially established by Hamilton's son, James Alexander Hamilton.
Charles Romeyn Dake was a 19th-century American homeopathic physician and writer. As an author, his name is sometimes spelled Charles Romyn Dake.
Edward Cooper was the 83rd Mayor of New York City from 1879 to 1880 and the second president of the Cooper Union. He was the only surviving son of industrialist Peter Cooper.
Dixon Ryan Fox was an American educator, researcher, and president of Union College, New York from 1934 until his death in 1945.
Isaac Daniel Roosevelt, M.D. was an American doctor and farmer. He was the paternal grandfather of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
George Middleton was an American playwright, director, and producer.
John Ethan Hill was an American mathematician and college football coach. He served as the eighth head football coach for West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, and he held that position for the 1900 season. His coaching record at West Virginia was 4–3.
The president of Columbia University is the chief officer of Columbia University in New York City. The position was first created in 1754 by the original royal charter for the university, issued by George II, and the power to appoint the president was given to an autonomous board of trustees. The university suspended operations upon the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, during which no individual served as president. When it was resuscitated by the New York State Legislature, the university was placed directly under the control of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York; its chancellor, George Clinton, served as the de facto president of Columbia University. Through the efforts of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, control of the university was returned to a private board of trustees in 1787, which has to this day maintained the right to appoint or remove the president, who also serves on the board ex officio. The university's first president was Samuel Johnson, who held the office from 1754 to 1763, and its 20th and current president is Minouche Shafik, whose tenure began on July 1, 2023.
Harold Gould Henderson (1889–1974) was an American academic, art historian and Japanologist. He was a Columbia University professor for twenty years. From 1948 through 1952, he was the President of the Japan Society in New York, and in 1968 he cofounded the Haiku Society of America.
Herbert Livingston Satterlee was an American lawyer, writer, and businessman who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1908 to 1909.
Frank Pierrepont Graves was Commissioner of the New York State Education Department from 1921 to 1940. Prior to assuming the commissionership, Graves was a noted historian of education, college administrator, and author.
Valentine Everit Macy was an American industrialist and philanthropist, involved in local government. In the 1910s and 1920s, he served in Westchester County, New York, as commissioner of the Department of Charities and Corrections, the Commissioner of Public Welfare, and as Commissioner of Parks.
The history of Columbia University began before it was founded in 1754 in New York City as King's College, by royal charter of King George II of Great Britain. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, and the fifth oldest in the United States.
Thomas Vinciguerra was an American journalist, editor, and author. A founding editor of The Week magazine, he published about popular culture, nostalgia and other subjects in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker and GQ.
Edwin Franklin Gayle was an American lawyer and college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette–then known as the Southwestern Louisiana Institute–in 1904.
Ernestine Louise Friedmann was an American economist and educator. She was a professor of economics and taught at the Barnard and Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers.
Miriam Greene Paslay was an American college professor. She was a professor of Latin and Greek at the Industrial Institute & College in Columbus, Mississippi from 1891 until 1920.
.