THE JOHN JAY SOCIETY
  • The Society
  • Information For Petitioners
  • Contact Us
  • The Society
  • Information For Petitioners
  • Contact Us
​Columbia’s Premier Debate
Organization for Political
and Moral Philosophy
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As Columbia’s premier undergraduate debate organization for political and moral philosophy, the John Jay Society is dedicated to exploring the Western intellectual tradition through discussion and debate. We aspire to pursue the truth together as a community of friends. We debate weekly, host frequent dinners with prominent Columbia faculty, public officials, leading journalists and public intellectuals, and host other social and intellectual events. Examples of resolutions we have debated include:

Resolved, That Humanity is Progressing
​Resolved, That There Exists a Tyranny of the Majority
Resolved, That Duty to Country Trumps Duty to Family
Resolved, That Democracy is the Only Means to Secure Liberty
Resolved, That Beauty Demands Suffering

Guests at our events have included the faculty listed below, as well as Nadine Strossen, longtime president of the ACLU, Robert Post, former dean of Yale Law School, Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute, Kevin Hassett, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors and former Columbia Business School professor, and many others. 
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Through these events, The Society works tirelessly to foster a community conducive to the pursuit of truth for students, faculty, and our members. We do this in collaboration and with the guidance of our faculty and alumni advisory boards, listed below. The Guide to the Core is one example of a helpful resource for students (especially freshmen,) faculty, and alumni that friends and members of The Society made.​​
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The Presiding Officers of the John Jay Society
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Gabrielle Epuran, Chairman
Francis Luke Seminara, Vice Chairman
James Payne Tsukada, Secretary
Connor William Knezic, Treasurer

Christian Terlochan Bhalla, Chief Whip
Faculty Advisory Board
Donald W. Landry 
(Senior Faculty Advisor)
 Chair, Department of Medicine; Hamilton Southworth Professor of Medicine
Katja Vogt
 Professor of Philosophy; Chair of Classical Studies Graduate Program

Michele Moody-Adams
 Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy and Legal Theory
Philip Hamburger
 Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor of Law
Mark Lilla
 Professor of Humanities

Dhananjay Jagannathan
 Assistant Professor of Philosophy​
Lisa Rosen-Metsch
 Dean, School of General Studies; Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
Jo Ann Cavallo
 Chair, Professor of Italian
James Eli Adams
 Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Joe Patterson
 Professor of Astronomy
Jacqueline Gottlieb
 Professor of Neuroscience
Alumni Advisory Board
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Ganesh Betanabhatla, CC'06
Richard Sohn, CC'89
Sandra Cremers, CC'91

Contact Us

Interested in joining the Society, or have other questions?
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Please contact us!
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© C 2021 by the John Jay Society of Columbia College.