The Philanthropic Assembly proudly continues the rebellious tradition of Society father David Gillespie, who led the organization to break away from the Debating Society just twenty-nine days after its foundation. The Phis follow the ideal of libertas (hinting at a long-standing point of disagreement between the two Societies) in addition to the old Di values of virtus and scientia. Phi Speaker Joseph England currently leads the Phis in the continual search for self-betterment. Find a list of current active Philanthropic Senators below. The Philanthropic Constitution may be viewed here.
Isabel Ebin, Senator
Senior | German and Economics
Joined: February 26th, 2024
“You might think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.”
– Francis Urquhart
Neah Trempé, Senator
Senior | English & Comparative Literature and Classics
Joined: March 4th, 2024
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”
– Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
Joseph Kledis, Senator
Senior | Economics and Mathematics
Joined: March 4th, 2024
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
– Albert Einstein
Stormy Epley, Senator
Graduate | Law School
Joined: March 18th, 2024
“In a world too often governed by corruption and arrogance, it can be difficult to stay true to one’s philosophical and literary principles.”
– Lemony Snicket
Cristina Matlock, Senator
Senior | Earth and Marine Sciences
Joined: September 9th, 2024
Jack Barr, Senator
Junior | Peace, War, and Defense and Geography
Joined: September 30th, 2024
“We lose—because we win—Gamblers—recollecting which Toss their dice again!”
– Emily Dickinson
Aakash Palathra, Joint Society President
Senior | Business Administration and Public Policy
Joined: September 30th, 2024
“Ah! Don’t say you agree with me. When people agree with me, I always feel that I must be wrong.”
– Oscar Wilde
Gray Ryan, Senator
Junior | Biology
Joined: October 7th, 2024
“I know how I live my life. i have a little magnet brain that attracts the kind of things that obsess me”
– Sophie Calle
Cassius Khan, Senator
Junior | Classics and Journalism
Joined: October 14th, 2024
“Our curiosity goes with you on your journey. You walk in the footsteps of those who came before you, and your path guides those who will follow later.”
– Outer Wilds
Charlotte Sullivan, Senator
Junior | Psychology B.S. and Political Science
Joined: October 21st, 2024
“Women sense my power and they seek the life essence.”
– General Jack D. Ripper, Dr. Strangelove
Ella Smith, President Pro Tempore
Junior | History and English & Comparative Literature
Joined: November 11th, 2024
“I, however, find love to be quite simple. Love is the stack of biographies on my nightstand with a bookmark near the end.”
– Julia Nicole Camp, A Bookmark Near the End
Lochlan Downard, Senator
Junior | Political Science and Hispanic Studies
Joined: November 17th, 2024
“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
– Albert Camus
Amelia Norris, Senator
Junior | Psychology and Sociology
Joined: November 17th, 2024
“If speaking kindly to plants helps them grow, imagine what speaking kindly to humans can do.”
– Tara Mackey
Hannah Howard, Senator
Junior | Biology and Communications
Joined: January 27th, 2025
“To make a thing as simple as an apple pie, you have to create the whole wide world.”
– Nicola Yoon, The Sun is also a Star
Keily Melchor-Roque, Senator
Junior | Psychology and Neuroscience
Joined: February 3rd, 2025
“Hay cosas que se tatúan sin tinta.”
– Kali Uchis
Joseph England, Phi Speaker
Senior | English Literature and German Studies
Joined: February 3rd, 2025
“Be brave, be wicked, be drunk, be reckless, be dissolute, be despotic, be an anarchist. . . be anything you like, but for pity’s sake be it to the top of your bent. Live- live fully, live passionately, live disastrously!”
– Vita Sackville-West
EJ Foster, Senator
Senior | History and Anthropology
Joined: February 24th, 2025
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
– Winston Churchill
Robert Battle, Senator
Senior | Mathematics and Computer Science
Joined: March 24th, 2025
“I have always thought that the most sacred duty of men was to give their children an education that prevented them at a more advanced age from regretting their youth, the only time when one can truly gain instruction.”
– Émilie du Châtelet, Institutions de Physique
Hadi Rahim, Senator
Junior | Political Science
Joined: April 14th, 2025
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
– Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Maisy Woodmansee, Senator
Junior | Psychology
Joined: April 14th, 2025
“Fool me once, shame on you, but teach a man to fool me, and I’ll be fooled for the rest of my life.”
– Virgil van Cleef, Bojack Horseman
Maggie Pearcy, SAA
Sophomore | Biochemistry
Joined: September 29th, 2025
“A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise.”
– E.M. Forster
Claire Madsen, Senator
Junior | English and Biology
Joined: October 6th, 2025
“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be light and frolicsome. I want to be improbable, beautiful, and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings.”
– Mary Oliver
William Steed, Senator
Sophomore | Statistics and Economics
Joined: October 13th, 2025
“Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity.”
– Anthony Bourdain
Anna Lynch, Senator
Junior | Public Policy and Computer Science
Joined: October 13th, 2025
“The metropolis provides what otherwise could be given only by travelling; namely, the strange.”
– Jane Jacobs
Elizabeth Jenkins, Clerk
Sophomore | Economics
Joined: October 20th, 2025
“It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Joseph Moore III, Senator
Junior | Political Science and Statistics
Joined: November 3rd, 2025
“Hot Damn!”
– Captain Raymond Holt
Logan Brown, Senator
Sophomore | Contemporary European Studies
Joined: November 13th, 2025
“A good plan can turn to disaster if it is not followed up, but a good beginning can lead to victory.”
– Anonymous
Ellian Arnao, Senator
Junior| Communications and Advertising
Joined: November 17th, 2025
“Well, first things first. Have you thought about apologizing? That was pretty bad.”
– Pim, Smiling Friends
Pratham Peruri, Senator
Sophomore| Physics and Political Science
Joined: March 9th, 2026
“Destiny is a gift. Some go their entire lives living existences of quiet desperation, never learning the truth, that what feels as though a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually the sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights!”
– Blinkous Giladrigal
Cameron Marshall, Senator
Sophomore | European Studies
Joined: April 13th, 2026
“Compassion is the chief law of human existence.”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot
Grant Willis, Senator
Sophomore | Physics
Joined: April 13th, 2026
“Gravel in my pockets,
From the places I have been.
The soles of my shoes are
paper thin.
I got sand here in my pockets,
From the places that I come from.
That’s where I’m going,
So I’ll say so long.”
– Rory Gallagher
