American Whig-Cliosophic Society
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The American Whig-Cliosophic Society (short form: Whig-Clio) is the oldest college political, literary, and debating society in continual existence in the world. Its precursors, the American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society, were founded at Princeton University in 1769 and 1765 by James Madison and other Princeton students.
Originally two separate organizations, the American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society were the primary student organizations at Princeton until the end of the 19th century, when competition from eating clubs, sports teams, and other student activities drew members away from the societies.
Prompted by declining memberships the societies were merged to form the American Whig-Cliosophic Society in 1928. The organization's modern role is to serve as a meta-organization for political and debating activity at Princeton. It sponsors invited speakers and speaking contests, and counts the International Relations Council (IRC), Princeton's Model Congress (PMC), the Debate Panel, Mock Trial, and Model United Nations organizations as subsidiaries.
Today, Whig-Clio's Debate Panel is one of the world's top intercollegiate debating societies, and competes regularly against teams such as the Oxford Union Society, the Cambridge Union Society, and the University of Western Ontario Debating Society. It competes most frequently in the American Parliamentary Debating Association league, of which it is a founding member. In 1983, 1989, and 1995 Princeton hosted the World Universities Debating Championships.
Princeton Mock Trial (PMT), another Whig-Clio subsidiary, currently ranks among the top 40 mock trial programs in the nation, and has competed in the American Mock Trial Association National Championship Tournament each of the last two years, winning the AMTA Regional Tournament held at Princeton last year. It has produced three AMTA All-Americans and annually hosts a Moot Court tournament for high school students from throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
In the past half a decade, the International Relations Council (IRC) has grown to become the biggest subsidiary of Whig-Clio in membership. It hosts weekly meetings on Sundays to discuss international events and developments, and hosts two international affairs conferences: the high school level Princeton Model United Nations Conference (PMUNC) and the collegiate Princeton Interactive Crisis Simulation (PICSIM). PMUNC hosts some 1000 high school students from around the world and has become a renowned conference in Model UN circuits. PICSim boasts a format unique to Princeton IRC: an innovative, crisis-driven international affairs simulation with 11 interactive committees.
Past Presidents of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society include Skip Rankin '72, Andrew Bruck '05, Karis Gong '06, Matthew MacDonald '07, Aaron Spolin '08, and Shriram Harid '08 and numerous other individuals throughout Whig-Clio's over 250-year history.
