Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest university unions and one of the world's most prestigious private students' societies.[1] The Oxford Union exists independently from the university[2] and is distinct from the Oxford University Student Union.
Not to be confused with Oxford University Student Union.Formation
1823
Student debating union
Oxford, England
- Frewin Court, Oxford, OX1 3JB
Louis Wilson (Christ Church)
The Oxford Union has a tradition of hosting some of the world's most prominent individuals across politics, academia, and popular culture ranging from Albert Einstein and Michael Jackson to Sir Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II and Mahathir Mohamad. Many former Presidents of the Union have gone on to hold high office in the UK and Commonwealth, including William Gladstone, Ted Heath, Boris Johnson, and Benazir Bhutto.
History and status[edit]
Genesis[edit]
The Oxford Union was founded as an independent forum for unrestricted debate by junior members of Oxford University in 1823. At the time, the University prohibited junior members from discussing certain issues, such as matters of theology. Although restrictions of speech within the University have since been lifted, the Oxford Union has remained separate from and independent of the university and is constitutionally bound to remain so.
The first meeting of the Society was held illegally in a room in Peckwater Quad at Christ Church. The first recorded debate was about Parliamentarianism vs Royalism during the English Civil War. By the late 1820s, the Oxford Union was established enough to have regular elections, a growing collection of books, and formalised relations with its sister society The Cambridge Union. In the early 1830s the Union held its first debate on having confidence in HM Government, a tradition that is continued to this day. As the Society developed, it bought a plot of land by Frewin Court in central Oxford and commissioned Benjamin Woodward, who was then working on the University Museum, to design new buildings for the Society's use. These initial buildings, opened in 1857, included the original debating chamber. By the 1870s, the Society had grown too large for the chamber and commissioned a new chamber by Alfred Waterhouse. Finished in 1878 and opened the following year, the Union's new Debating Chamber was the largest purpose-built debating chamber in the world. The original chamber became the Society's library and is now home to over 60,000 volumes. A further period of building began in the early 1900s when an extension was built between the Steward's House and the main premises of the Society.[2]
Status[edit]
The Oxford Union is an unincorporated association; its property is held in trust in favour of its objectives and members, and governed by its rules (which form a multipartite contract between the members).[3] Its members are almost exclusively drawn from the University of Oxford with some provision for members who are resident in Oxford or attend Oxford Brookes University.
Women members[edit]
Until 1963, women were excluded from membership of the Oxford Union. The admission of women to the Union required a 2/3 vote of its past and current members. The first vote to admit women failed, with 903 men voting to admit women and 459 voting against.[4] The second vote, on 9 February 1963, succeeded, 1,039 to 427.[5] Oxford student Judith Okely, who had led the campaign to admit women, then became the first woman member.[6] Geraldine Jones of St Hugh's College was in 1967 the first woman to be elected President of the Oxford Union.[5]
The Union puts on a wide variety of events for its members, but is best known for its Thursday night debates and individual speaker events. In both of these, leading figures from public life are invited to discuss something of interest to the membership. Amongst the earliest individual addresses made to the Union were speeches given by Lord Randolph Churchill at the start of the 20th Century and Millicent Fawcett who became the first woman to address the Oxford Union in 1908.
Since then notable speakers to have addressed the members of the Oxford Union include:
Membership of the Oxford Union falls into four classes: life membership, long-term membership, temporary membership, and residential membership. Temporary membership can take four forms: course-length membership, termly membership, visiting membership, and (confusingly) permanent membership. The overwhelming majority of members are life members; the criterion for membership is being a fully matriculated member of the University of Oxford or a member of one of the Union's "kindred societies", namely:
All those eligible for life membership can instead apply for long-term membership for a period of at least the duration of their course,[15] and all such long-term members can, while eligible, apply to transfer to life membership.[16]
Students at certain other educational institutions in Oxford, most notably Oxford Brookes University, are entitled to join for the duration of their course.[17] Shorter membership is also extended to staff members of the University of Oxford or of any of its colleges or permanent private halls.[18] Members of a number of other institutions, together with those participating in some visiting study programmes in Oxford, are also eligible to apply for temporary membership,[19] while members of Oxford Brookes University alone are entitled to apply for permanent membership.[20]
Guests staying at the Oxford Union Society/Landmark Trust flat in the Old Steward's House are deemed to be visiting members of the Society for the duration of their stay in the flat.[21] Residential memberships are available to Oxford residents who are not from the university, but only if they are deemed worthy by a full meeting of the Union's Standing Committee after submitting a written application to the Secretary and subsequent interview by a member of the Standing Committee.[22]
Debating[edit]
Debating at the Oxford Union takes two forms: competitive debating and chamber debating.
Competitive debating offers members of the Union debate workshops and a platform upon which to practise and improve their debating skills. The Union's best debaters compete internationally against other top debating societies, and the Oxford Union regularly fields successful teams at the World Universities Debating Championship (which the Union hosted in 1993) and the European Universities Debating Championship.
The Union also runs the Oxford Schools' Debating Competition and the Oxford Intervarsity Debating Competition, each of which attracts schools and universities from around the world, as well as running a number of internal debating competitions.[32][33] Oxford Schools' Debating Competition is the largest schools' competition in the world, with over one thousand teams entering each year.
There are chamber debates every Thursday evening during University terms. Experts for the proposition and opposition present paper speeches to the house. Members have an opportunity to deliver brief speeches from the floor. Following the style of the British Parliament, a motion is moved to "divide the House" in order to vote. Members in the chamber vote on the proposition with their feet by exiting the hall through a door designed to model the voting lobbies of the House of Commons, the right-hand side being marked 'ayes' and the left-hand side 'noes'.
Oxford Union Society debates are filmed and licensed by Oxford Union Limited, a registered company controlled by the Oxford Union Society.[34] Oxford Union Limited runs a YouTube channel which has more than 1.8 million subscribers and has gained more than 250 million views across its videos.
Controversies[edit]
1996: OJ Simpson[edit]
In May 1996 President Paul Kenward invited O. J. Simpson to address the union, his first public address since his October acquittal by a Los Angeles jury of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Speaking for 90 minutes in front of 1,300 students, Simpson spoke of racism in the Los Angeles Police Department, and said he was sorry for hitting his wife, Nicole.[40]
Paul Kenward had given O. J. Simpson assurances there would be no broadcast media at the union debate. However, Chris Philp, (now Conservative MP and then a second-year student at University College and features editor of the student magazine Cherwell), was fined £50 for selling a written transcript of the debate and helping to sell an audio cassette to TV stations.[41]
2007: David Irving / Nick Griffin debate[edit]
In November 2007, President Luke Tryl sparked controversy by inviting Holocaust denier David Irving and British National Party leader Nick Griffin to speak at a Union forum on the topic of free speech. The Student Population at a Council meeting voted to oppose the invitations.[42] Following this and protests by other student groups, a poll of the Union's members was taken and resulted in a two-to-one majority in favour of the invitations.[43]
On the evening of the planned debate several hundred protesters gathered outside the Union buildings, chanting anti-fascist slogans and later preventing guests and Union members from entering the premises. Around 20 protesters succeeded in breaching the poorly maintained security cordon and attempted to force their way through to the main chamber. Members of the waiting audience blocked access by pushing back against the chamber doors. After students were convinced to yield to the protesters by Union staff, a sit-in protest was staged in the debating chamber, preventing a full debate from occurring due to security concerns. Because of a lack of security personnel, a number of students from the audience eventually came to take on the responsibilities of controlling events, in one instance preventing a scuffle from breaking out between a protester and members of the audience, and eventually assisting police in herding protesters from the main hall. One student protester interviewed by BBC News reported that fellow protesters played 'jingles' on the piano and danced on the President's chair[44] though the truth of the latter assertion was seriously questioned by eyewitnesses. Smaller debates were eventually held with Irving and Griffin in separate rooms, amid criticism that the police and Union officials had not foreseen the degree of unrest which the controversial invitations would arouse.[45]
The President of Oxford University Student Union, Martin McCluskey, strongly criticised the decision to proceed with the debate, saying that providing Irving and Griffin with a platform for their extreme views afforded them undue legitimacy.[46] Following the event, some, including Oxford MP Evan Harris, criticised the No Platform Policy adopted by the Student Union.[47][48]
2015: Marine Le Pen[edit]
In February 2015, the Union invited Marine Le Pen, the leader of the Front National in France, to address the Union, in view of the popularity of the FN in the French polls at the time. This sparked considerable controversy, with allegations of Le Pen endorsing anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The speech went ahead as planned, albeit delayed by the protesters blockading the Union's main entrance, and briefly breaking into the building.[49] In all, over 400 people turned up to the demonstration.[50] There was considerable controversy over OUSU's response, with allegations that OUSU had indirectly supported the protesters and not adequately condemned threats of violence against Union members who had attempted to attend the talk.[51]
2018: Heather Marsh[edit]
In 2018, human rights activist Heather Marsh accused the Oxford Union of censorship and violating a contractual obligation when they failed to post video of a "Whistleblowing" panel in which she appeared to the official Oxford Union YouTube channel, allegedly at the request of a fellow panelist, former CIA operative David Shedd.[52] Oxford Union president Gui Cavalcanti replied that its agreement with Marsh and other panelists gave them the right but not the obligation to publish video of any events, adding that "just this academic year, we’ve had multiple events not uploaded, ranging from J. J. Abrams to Sir Patrick Stewart."[53] A transcript of the panel and its 22-minute audio are available online.[52]
2019: Ebenezer Azamati[edit]
In October 2019, before the annual 'No Confidence' debate, blind Ghanaian graduate student Ebenezer Azamati was violently removed from the hall for refusing to relinquish his seat, which had been reserved for a committee member. Azmati later had his membership revoked for two terms for 'violent misconduct'. Footage of the event was recorded by another member, and was subsequently uploaded to the internet. This led to protests from the University's AfriSoc society on Azmati's behalf, and soon gained national news media coverage.[54] This was eventually followed by the resignation of standing committee members and other Union officials, and then by Union president Brendan McGrath on 19 November.[55] Azmati was compensated an undisclosed amount.[56]
2023: Kathleen Stock[edit]
In April 2023, the Union invited the gender-critical feminist philosopher Dr Kathleen Stock. The invitation was met with criticism from the University's LGBTQ+ Society and Student Union, who alleged Stock's views were transphobic and called upon the Union to rescind the invitation. The Union declined to disinvite Stock, saying in a statement that members would have the 'opportunity to respectfully engage and challenge' Stock. Letters both in support and in opposition to Stock's talk were published in national publications, signed by academics and students, and prompted intervention from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who told the Telegraph that 'University should be an environment where debate is supported, not stifled. We mustn’t allow a small but vocal few to shut down discussion. Kathleen Stock's invitation to the Oxford Union should stand'. Over a hundred protestors gathered outside the buildings on the day. The event went ahead, but shortly after it started, a protestor glued themselves to the floor of the Union's debating chamber before subsequently being removed by police. [57][58][59]