Surgam
The Philolexian Foundation
In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII
In service to the Philolexian Society of Columbia University · Founded MDCCCII
A Standing Campaign of the Foundation
A permanent home, on or near campus, for the Society's archive, its ceremonial objects, and its weekly debates.
Philolexian holds, in the trust of its alumni, a small but consequential collection. It includes first editions and signed copies of works by Philolexians, a pair of shoes donated by the founder of Thom McAn (and Philo alum), the Society's ceremonial robes, the original parchment scrolls, and Yorick's skull, still in regular use at weekly debates. The collection has lived, for most of the Society's modern history, in whatever closet a sympathetic faculty member could be persuaded to lend.
For years the Foundation has been working with university and college administrators on the question of where, on a famously space-constrained urban campus, this material might come to rest — and where the students might have a space worthy of the Philolexian Tradition for their weekly debates and literary exercises.
What the Quest will fund
A reading room. A small archival vault for the scrolls and the original Constitution. A glass case for the ceremonial objects (and Yorick). A modest bookshelf for the Society's first-edition holdings. Acoustically reasonable accommodations for forty Philolexians arguing at the same time. And, most ambitious, a permanent name on the door.
The Quest for Halls is funded by a designated capital campaign within the Foundation. Donations of any size are welcome; gifts above a certain threshold may be recognized in the eventual space.
For naming-level gifts and major-donor inquiries, please write to the Treasurer through the Contact page.
The Foundation stewards funds for the student Society, the awards program, and the search for a permanent home. Every gift is tax-deductible.
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