Oxford Union

The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a private debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1823 and gained a worldwide reputation for the cut and thrust of its debate, proving a valuable training ground for many future British politicians.

Status and membership

The Oxford Union is an unincorporated association, holding its property in trust in favour of its objectives and members, and governed by its rules (which form a multi-partite contract between the members).

Since its foundation, it has been independent of the University: historically, this was because the Victorian University restricted junior members from discussing certain issues (for example, theology). Despite such restrictions since being lifted, it has remained entirely separate from the University, and is constitutionally bound to remain so.

Only members of Oxford University are eligible to become life members of the Union, but students at Oxford Brookes University and certain other educational institutions are entitled to join for the duration of their time in Oxford. Shorter membership is also extended to those participating in some visiting study programmes in Oxford.

The Union buildings are owned by a separate charitable trust, the Oxford Literary and Debating Union Trust.

The Union buildings

The Oxford Union buildings are located in Frewin Court, off Cornmarket Street, and on St Michael's Street. The original Union buildings were designed by Alfred Waterhouse and opened in 1879. This was about a decade after the completion of the Cambridge Union's premises, also designed by Waterhouse, and the exterior of the two buildings was very similar.

The current debating chamber

A debating chamber was subsequently added, but the Union's growing membership meant that it became too small, and is now the "Old Library". The current debating chamber, and several further extensions to the main buildings were added over the next forty years. The final extension was completed in 1912, adding a dining room and a second library, together with basement library stacks.

Many of the rooms in the Union are named after figures from the Union's past, such as the Goodman Library, with its oriel windows, and the wood-panelled MacMillan Room with barrel ceiling. The buildings have gradually been added to with paintings and statues of past presidents and prominent members. The Gladstone Room also contains Gladstone's original cabinet table, semi-circular in design so that he could look all his ministers in the eye as he held forth.

In the debating chamber there are busts of such notables as Roy Jenkins, Edward Heath, Michael Heseltine and William Gladstone. The despatch boxes which continue to be used in Union debates were formerly in the chambers of the House of Commons.

The buildings were used as a location for the films The Madness of King George (1994), Oxford Blues (1984) and opposite, in St Michael's Street, Iris (2001).​

Debating

Debating at the Oxford Union takes two forms, competitive debating, and chamber debating.

Competitive debating is the preserve of a minority of members of the Union. The Union's best debaters compete internationally against other top debating societies, and the Oxford Union regularly fields one of the most successful teams at the World Universities Debating Championship (which the Union hosted in 1993) and the European Universities Debating Championship. The Union is the current holder of the European Universities Debating Championships, winning the title in Berlin in 2006. The Union also runs the Oxford Schools' Debating Competition, the prestigious Oxford Intervarsity Debating Competition which attracts universities from around the world and a number of internal debating competitions.

Chamber debating, including the debates (known as Public Business Meetings) with invited guest speakers for which the Union is best known, tends to be less formalised (even if more formal) than competitive debates, and the manner of delivery is closer to public speaking, with audience engagement far more important.

Public Business Meeting debates also have voting. At the end of the debate, the audience votes on the proposition by exiting the hall through a door, one side of which is marked 'ayes' and the other 'noes'. This follows the style of the British Parliament, which votes this way if it is necessary to "divide the House".

The Union and the Student Union

The Oxford Union is often confused with the Oxford University Student Union (OUSU). OUSU is the officially recognised student representative body of the University of Oxford. Unlike almost all other British university student unions, OUSU has no central building to provide a venue for students, only a set of administrative offices, while all events are run in conjunction with other local venues. This stems largely from the fact that each of the University's Colleges has its own Junior Common Room, or JCR which provides many of the functions, albeit on a smaller scale, that would otherwise be provided by a central student union.

OLDUT and OUS

It is not generally recognised (either by the outside world, or the Union's members) that the Oxford Union Society does not own its buildings. The Oxford Union was never financially secure, and its position was not helped by its termly changes of junior (i.e. student) officers. There was also a significant level of historic debt, associated with the erection of its buildings.

Following a particularly bad period in the 1970s, the Union buildings were sold to a charitable trust ("OLDUT", the Oxford Literary and Debating Union Trust), and the Oxford Union Society was granted a licence to occupy the building.

Several parts of what were historically the Union buildings and grounds were subsequently either sold or made the subject of long leases, including an area of land around the rear of the debating chamber, part of the Union cellars (adjoining that now occupied by the Purple Turtle), and part of what was formerly the Steward's house (now occupied by the Landmark Trust). OLDUT has subsequently paid for the refurbishment and maintenance of the Union buildings, both from its own resources and by securing private donations and grant funding.

As a result of OLDUT's creation, the future of the physical Union is now secured, so that even if the Oxford Union Society were to cease to be, or to fail financially, the buildings would not be lost. In addition, OLDUT provides some financial support for the running of the Union in those areas where the Union undertakes activities which match OLDUT's charitable objectives - particularly the operation of the Union's library.

Despite the importance of OLDUT in preserving the fabric of the Union, the relationship between OLDUT and OUS has at times been strained. OLDUT is first and foremost a charitable trust, and it has objectives which do not always match those of what is primarily a student society.

Notable speakers

The Oxford Union has a long history of hosting international figures and celebrities.​ Previous guests have included the Dalai Lama, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, US President Jimmy Carter, physicist Stephen Hawking, biologist Richard Dawkins debating creationist A. E. Wilder-Smith, comedian and writer Stephen Fry, US politician Robert Kennedy, actor Ewan McGregor, Malcolm X, Winston Churchill, porn star Jenna Jameson, footballer Diego Maradona, actor Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, US President Ronald Reagan, rock star Jon Bon Jovi, O.J. Simpson, televangelist Jerry Falwell, magician David Blaine, US President Richard Nixon, diplomat Henry Kissinger, porn star Ron Jeremy, pop star Michael Jackson, TV talk show host Jerry Springer, Mother Teresa, singer Barry White, puppet Kermit the Frog, Russian politician and former finance minister Grigory Yavlinsky, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, human rights barrister Cherie Booth QC, actress Judi Dench, former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange, singer Gerard Way, and musical humourist and conductor Gerard Hoffnung.

Free speech

The Oxford Union has long associated itself with freedom of speech, most famously by debating and passing the motion "This House would under no circumstances fight for its King and country" in 1933.

What is generally forgotten (but arguably more significant as an example of the Union's commitment to freedom of speech) is that an attempt was made by several prominent Union members (including Randolph Churchill) to expunge this motion and the result of the debate from the Union's minute book. This attempt was roundly defeated — in a meeting far better attended than the original debate. Sir Edward Heath records in his memoirs that Randolph Churchill was then chased around Oxford by undergraduates who intended to debag him (ie. humiliate him by removing his trousers), and was then fined by the police for being illegally parked.

Harold Macmillan called the Oxford Union "the last bastion of free speech in the Western world.", a quotation which continues to feature prominently in the Union's publicity.

However, the Union's commitment to free speech has been tested by pressure to deny platforms to controversial speakers. An invitation to the now convicted Nazi apologist David Irving to speak in a debate on censorship in 2001 was met by a coordinated campaign by left-wing, Jewish, and anti-fascist groups, together with the elected leadership of the Oxford University Student Union, to have the invitation withdrawn. Despite the fact that there was no mechanism in the Union's constitution by which members could compel the President — who is responsible for organising debates — to either cancel a debate or withdraw an invitation to a particular speaker, attempts were made to pass a Union motion ordering her to do so. Following a particularly bitter meeting of Union members, and a subsequent meeting of the Union's governing body, the Standing Committee, the President decided the debate would have to be cancelled.​

A previous debate which was to have involved the far-right leader John Tyndall was met with a similar campaign in 1998, although that debate was cancelled on police advice following a series of racially motivated nail-bombings in London, rather than as a result of the opposition.​

In May 2007, the House debated but ultimately voted down a motion that would have declared "this House regrets the Founding of America". ​

Governance

The Oxford Union is run by the Standing Committee which is elected termly and is constituted by the junior officers (the current President, President-Elect, Junior Librarian, Junior Treasurer, Treasurer-Elect and Secretary), five elected members and recent junior officers (who have chosen to serve). The Standing Committee is also attended ex-officio bythe Chairman of the Consultative Committee, the Returning Officer (responsible for the conduct of the Union's elections and for advising on the interpretation of the Union's rules) and the Chairman of the Debates Selection Committee, none of whom have a vote. The Union also has two senior officers, the Senior Librarian and Senior Treasurer (generally Oxford academics but must be members of the Union) who advise the Standing Committee.

The junior officers each have specific areas of responsibility, such as debates (President), "speaker meetings" (President and Librarian), sponsorship and funding (Junior Treasurer), and social events (Secretary). The junior officers-elect spend a term preparing their area, before assuming their office.

A number of other committee run or advise the running of various aspects of the Union, including the Wines and Spirits Committee (the Union's bar), the Cellar Management Committee (responsible for liaison with the management of the Purple Turtle), the Library Committee (responsible principally for library acquisitions), the Finance Committee (which advises the Standing Committee on financial matters), and the Debates Selection Committee (who run competitive debating). Two further committees, the Secretary's Committee and the Consultative Committee, are not, despite their names, committees in the traditional sense.

The Secretary's Committee consists of nine members, elected on a termly basis in the same ballot as that for the Officer and Standing Committee, who assist at the Union's social functions, and is generally the first stage for any aspiring Union politician. Although considered a committee under the rules, it only ever meets informally, and is more akin to a group of people with a particular role, rather than a committee.

The Consultative Committee holds weekly public meetings during term time, at which members can informally question the junior officers and members of the elected committees on the performance of their duties. All members of the Union are considered members of the Consultative Committee, so meetings tend to be more like an open forum.

The Chairman of the Consultative Committee (who is elected termly, but not during the Union's main elections) is a member of Standing Committee but without voting rights, responsible for the Union's publicity, website and archives; setting up the Union's rooms for events; chairing Consultative Committee, and bringing up any matters of concern at Standing Committee.

The Returning Officer is elected from a body of Deputy Returning Oficers whose members have been approved by a scrutiny committee. He is responsible for running the Society's elections and is empowered (along with the President) to interpret the Society's constitution. It remains hotly disputed whether the Returning Officer wields disproportionate influence without an electoral mandate, or maintains an essential check and balance to the powers of the President.

The day to day management of the Union is partly conducted by professional staff, principally the Bursar and the Steward.

Past officers

Famous past presidents include:

• Tariq Ali
• Herbert Henry Asquith
• Hilaire Belloc
• Tony Benn
• Benazir Bhutto
• Robin Day
• William Ewart Gladstone
• Michael Foot
• William Hague
• Michael Heseltine
• Edward Heath
• Anthony Howard
• Boris Johnson
• Lakshman Kadirgamar
• David Lewis​
• Henry Edward Cardinal Manning
• Andrew Sullivan
• Jeremy Thorpe

Other officers of the Union who have achieved political success include Harold Macmillan, Ann Widdecombe, Edwina Currie and Roy Jenkins.

Elections

The Union holds elections in the penultimate week of each University term, in order to allow members of the society to choose officers and committee members for the following term. The elections are held to fill the offices of President-elect, Librarian, Treasurer-elect and Secretary, as well as 5 elected positions on the Standing Committee and 9 positions on the Secretary's Committee. The election for the Chairman of the Consultative Committee is held at CC on Monday of 8th week.

References

• BBC News (1999) Racism debate scrapped after bombings, Online news 27 April 1999, [Accessed 4 June 2006] - Cancellation of the debate involving John Tyndall
• BBC News (2001a) Oxford's star chamber, Online news 5 May 2001, [Accessed 4 June 2006] - Oxford Union history
• BBC News (2001b) Oxford drops Hitler historian debate, Online news 9 May 2001, [Accessed 4 June 2006] - Cancellation of the debate involving David Irving
• Frei, Matt (2007) Washington diary: Land of ideas, BBC News online 2 May 2007, [Accessed 4 June 2006]
• Graham, Fiona (2005) Playing at Politics: an ethnology of the Oxford Union, Edinburgh : Dunedin Academic Press, ISBN 1-903765-52-8
• Leonard, Bill (2004) The Oxford of Inspector Morse : films locations history, Oxford : Location Guides, ISBN 0-9547671-0-1
• Oxford Union (2006a) The Oxford Union Intervarsity 2007, www site [Accessed 4 June 2006]
• Oxford Union (2006b) The Oxford Union Schools' Debating Competition 2006/07, www site [Accessed 4 June 2006]
• Smith, Cameron (1989) Unfinished Journey: the Lewis family, Toronto : Summerhill Press, ISBN 0-929091-04-3
• Walter, David (1984) The Oxford Union: playground of power, London : Macdonald, ISBN 0-356-09502-9

External links

• Oxford Union official website
• Tribunal Reports, Disciplinary Reports, Rule Changes
• Election results since 2002