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=== History ===
=== History ===
The Union was founded in 1842.<ref name="societyhistory">{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://dus.org.uk/about-the-union-2/our-history/ |website=Durham Union Society |access-date=31 January 2020}}</ref> It was the last student debating union founded along the lines of those that had been established [[Cambridge Union|at Cambridge in 1815]] and [[Oxford Union|at Oxford in 1823]].<ref name="dockerill">{{cite book |last1=Dockerill |first1=Bertie |editor1-last=Burkett |editor1-first=Jodi |title=Students in Twentieth Century Britain and Ireland |date=2017 |publisher=Palgrave |pages=101–128 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320003348 |access-date=31 January 2020 |chapter=‘Forgotten Voices’: The Debating Societies of Durham and Liverpool, 1900–1939}}</ref> Intended both as clubs and debating societies, they provided additional comforts like reading rooms, dining facilities, billiards, and libraries.<ref name=dockerill /> The first debates were held in the reading rooms of [[Hatfield College|Hatfield Hall]] and [[University College, Durham|University College]]. In 1872 the Society moved to what is now the Palace Green library, where the University's first purpose-built debating chamber was established.<ref name=societyhistory /> The Union predates the 1899 founding of the [[Durham Students' Union|Students' Representatives Council]] (SRC). Consequently, there exists in Durham, like that of Oxford and Cambridge, the anomaly of both a union society and a students' union.<ref name=dockerill />
The union was founded in 1842<ref name="societyhistory">{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://dus.org.uk/about-the-union-2/our-history/ |website=Durham Union Society |access-date=31 January 2020}}</ref> along the same lines as the [[Cambridge Union]] (founded 1815) and the [[Oxford Union]] (founded 1823). An earlier Durham University Debating Society had existed from 1835–1839, with financial support from the university.<ref name=Haapala>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QITgDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q&f=false|title= Political Rhetoric in the Oxford and Cambridge Unions, 1830–1870|pages=37–38, 186|author= Taru Haapala|publisher=Springer|date=9 January 2017}}</ref> These societies were not just for debating but were also clubs, and thus maintained facilities such as reading and dining rooms in addition to holding debates. After the establishment of the Durham Union, no further student debating societies were established upon these lines.<ref name="dockerill">{{cite book |last1=Dockerill |first1=Bertie |editor1-last=Burkett |editor1-first=Jodi |title=Students in Twentieth Century Britain and Ireland |date=2017 |publisher=Palgrave |pages=101–128 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320003348 |access-date=31 January 2020 |chapter=‘Forgotten Voices’: The Debating Societies of Durham and Liverpool, 1900–1939}}</ref> Durham also followed Oxford in adopting [[parlimentary procedure]]s in its debates from the initial foundation in 1835, which Cambridge also adopted in 1842 and which became standard in debating societies later in the 19th century.<ref name=Haapala/>


Because Durham University did not enjoy the wealth or the influence of the alumni of its southern counterparts, its Union Society did not flourish in the same way as the Union Societies of Oxford and Cambridge.<ref name=dockerill /> So poor were the facilities of the Durham Union that by Easter 1896 no debates could be held.<ref name="fowlerhistory">{{cite journal |last1=Fowler |first1=J. T. |title=The Durham Union Society |journal=Durham University Journal |date=5 June 1912 |volume=20 |issue=10 |page=205|url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Journals/DUJ19/duj19.xml#page/360/mode/2up |access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref> That same year the University offered the Union a financial lifeline, by which the latter would be reconstituted as a centrally funded students' union like those being established at the newer [[Red brick university|Red brick universities]]. This was rejected by the members however, who opted to stick with the Cambridge model and embarked on a 'precarious path of independence' that has often led it to be 'marginalised' within the wider priorities of Durham University.<ref name=dockerill /> The university authorities pressed on with the formation of a SRC regardless, and ignored calls from the Union to be given additional facilities, which would not be received until 1936.<ref name=dockerill /> Independence ensured a state of relative poverty that did not work to the advantage of the DUS. Bertie Dockerill, an academic who has written on the history of student debating societies, emphasises that continued use of Union facilities:
The society moved to a site adjacent to the university library on [[Palace Green]] in 1872.<ref name=societyhistory /> However, lacking the independent funds of the Oxford and Cambridge unions or the central funding of the debating societies at the redbrick universities, it was unable to maintain its buildings, which decayed to such a state by 1896 that it was no longer possible to hold debates.<ref name="fowlerhistory">{{cite journal |last1=Fowler |first1=J. T. |title=The Durham Union Society |journal=Durham University Journal |date=5 June 1912 |volume=20 |issue=10 |page=205|url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Journals/DUJ19/duj19.xml#page/360/mode/2up |access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref> By this time, [[students' union]]s had begun to be established in [[Red brick university|redbrick universities]] such as [[University of Liverpool|Liverpool]], and Durham University extended an offer to the union society to convert it into a students' union that would receive funding from the university. However, the union members rejected this offer and decided to remain independent, leading to the foundation of the separate [[Durham Students' Union|Student Representative Council]] and continued poverty for the union society.<ref name=dockerill />


In 1936, the union moved into facilities provided by the university on the opposite side of Palace Green, where it remains. This was controversial as the union became dependent, unlike the Oxford and Cambridge unions, on the university for its facilities – Bertie Dockerill, an academic who has written on the history of student debating societies, emphasises that continued use of these facilities:<ref name=dockerill />
⚫
:''has remained dependent upon the University believing that they were necessary, a system of landlordism that has not served the DUS well. The Union has been forcibly removed from its original home upon the library side of Palace Green that it had been gifted by the [[William Lake (Dean of Durham)|Warden of the University]] in 1873 (it now houses a lavatory complex), had its artwork appropriated, its coffee shop and dining room confiscated, and enjoys neither a library nor sole usage of its debating chamber, the latter commandeered daily by the University for lectures''<ref name=dockerill />

⚫
{{blockquote|text=has remained dependent upon the University believing that they were necessary, a system of landlordism that has not served the DUS well. The Union has been forcibly removed from its original home upon the library side of Palace Green that it had been gifted by the [[William Lake (Dean of Durham)|Warden of the University]] in 1873 (it now houses a lavatory complex), had its artwork appropriated, its coffee shop and dining room confiscated, and enjoys neither a library nor sole usage of its debating chamber, the latter commandeered daily by the University for lectures}}


In the final years of the nineteenth century debates often revolved around ecclesiastical matters, a reflection not just of the student intake (which included high numbers of young men preparing for [[holy orders]]) but Durham's traditional curriculum of the university and the 'stranglehold' that the [[Durham Cathedral|Dean and Chapter of Durham]] exercised over the university – with the few political debates tending to concern the then contentious issue of [[Irish Home Rule]].<ref name=dockerill /> A few of the debate subjects were [[tongue-in-cheek]], such as an 1887 motion 'That in the opinion of this House the [[Women|Fair Sex]] is the root of all evil' – a proposal eventually defeated by a large majority.<ref name=fowlerhistory /> The first 'Ladies night', where female students were able to participate, was held in 1895. In 1900, as the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] raged, members sent a telegram congratulating Messrs. Tuckey and Macpherson{{efn|Presumably the Reverend Ewen George Fitzroy Macpherson ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], 1887), and the Reverend James Grove White Tuckey (a [[Trinity College, Oxford]] graduate who was a university lecturer and later chaplain of [[University College, Durham|University College]]), both of whom were in South Africa serving as [[Chaplain to the Forces]]<ref>{{cite journal |title=Unattached Members |journal=Durham University Calendar |date=1897 |page=227 |url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Calendars/1897/ducal1897METS.xml#page/250/mode/2up |access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Graduates of the University |date=1948 |publisher=Durham University |location=Durham |page=230}}</ref>}} – both former Durham Union men who had been trapped in the city of [[Ladysmith, Natal|Ladysmith]] as it [[Siege of Ladysmith|came under siege]] from Boer forces – on [[Relief of Ladysmith|finally being relieved]], and soon received a reply from the pair of them.<ref>Fowler, 1912, p. 206</ref>
In the final years of the nineteenth century debates often revolved around ecclesiastical matters, a reflection not just of the student intake (which included high numbers of young men preparing for [[holy orders]]) but Durham's traditional curriculum of the university and the 'stranglehold' that the [[Durham Cathedral|Dean and Chapter of Durham]] exercised over the university – with the few political debates tending to concern the then contentious issue of [[Irish Home Rule]].<ref name=dockerill /> A few of the debate subjects were [[tongue-in-cheek]], such as an 1887 motion 'That in the opinion of this House the [[Women|Fair Sex]] is the root of all evil' – a proposal eventually defeated by a large majority.<ref name=fowlerhistory /> The first 'Ladies night', where female students were able to participate, was held in 1895. In 1900, as the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]] raged, members sent a telegram congratulating Messrs. Tuckey and Macpherson{{efn|Presumably the Reverend Ewen George Fitzroy Macpherson ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], 1887), and the Reverend James Grove White Tuckey (a [[Trinity College, Oxford]] graduate who was a university lecturer and later chaplain of [[University College, Durham|University College]]), both of whom were in South Africa serving as [[Chaplain to the Forces]]<ref>{{cite journal |title=Unattached Members |journal=Durham University Calendar |date=1897 |page=227 |url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Calendars/1897/ducal1897METS.xml#page/250/mode/2up |access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Graduates of the University |date=1948 |publisher=Durham University |location=Durham |page=230}}</ref>}} – both former Durham Union men who had been trapped in the city of [[Ladysmith, Natal|Ladysmith]] as it [[Siege of Ladysmith|came under siege]] from Boer forces – on [[Relief of Ladysmith|finally being relieved]], and soon received a reply from the pair of them.<ref>Fowler, 1912, p. 206</ref>

Revision as of 17:43, 21 December 2023

The Durham Union Society
Logo
The Durham Union Society's badge
Formation1842
TypeStudent debating union
HeadquartersDurham, England
LocationPemberton Buildings, Palace Green, Durham DH1 3EP
PresidentTheo Osborn
Websitedus.org.uk

The Durham Union Society (DUS), commonly referred to as the Durham Union, is a debating society, founded in 1842, by the students at Durham University. It is the largest society associated with the university, with over 3,000 members in residence, and 24,000 worldwide. Until 1899, when the Durham Students' Union's ancestor was founded, the society acted as the university's students' union.

History

The union was founded in 1842[1] along the same lines as the Cambridge Union (founded 1815) and the Oxford Union (founded 1823). An earlier Durham University Debating Society had existed from 1835–1839, with financial support from the university.[2] These societies were not just for debating but were also clubs, and thus maintained facilities such as reading and dining rooms in addition to holding debates. After the establishment of the Durham Union, no further student debating societies were established upon these lines.[3] Durham also followed Oxford in adopting parlimentary procedures in its debates from the initial foundation in 1835, which Cambridge also adopted in 1842 and which became standard in debating societies later in the 19th century.[2]

The society moved to a site adjacent to the university library on Palace Green in 1872.[1] However, lacking the independent funds of the Oxford and Cambridge unions or the central funding of the debating societies at the redbrick universities, it was unable to maintain its buildings, which decayed to such a state by 1896 that it was no longer possible to hold debates.[4] By this time, students' unions had begun to be established in redbrick universities such as Liverpool, and Durham University extended an offer to the union society to convert it into a students' union that would receive funding from the university. However, the union members rejected this offer and decided to remain independent, leading to the foundation of the separate Student Representative Council and continued poverty for the union society.[3]

In 1936, the union moved into facilities provided by the university on the opposite side of Palace Green, where it remains. This was controversial as the union became dependent, unlike the Oxford and Cambridge unions, on the university for its facilities – Bertie Dockerill, an academic who has written on the history of student debating societies, emphasises that continued use of these facilities:[3]

has remained dependent upon the University believing that they were necessary, a system of landlordism that has not served the DUS well. The Union has been forcibly removed from its original home upon the library side of Palace Green that it had been gifted by the Warden of the University in 1873 (it now houses a lavatory complex), had its artwork appropriated, its coffee shop and dining room confiscated, and enjoys neither a library nor sole usage of its debating chamber, the latter commandeered daily by the University for lectures

In the final years of the nineteenth century debates often revolved around ecclesiastical matters, a reflection not just of the student intake (which included high numbers of young men preparing for holy orders) but Durham's traditional curriculum of the university and the 'stranglehold' that the Dean and Chapter of Durham exercised over the university – with the few political debates tending to concern the then contentious issue of Irish Home Rule.[3] A few of the debate subjects were tongue-in-cheek, such as an 1887 motion 'That in the opinion of this House the Fair Sex is the root of all evil' – a proposal eventually defeated by a large majority.[4] The first 'Ladies night', where female students were able to participate, was held in 1895. In 1900, as the Boer War raged, members sent a telegram congratulating Messrs. Tuckey and Macpherson[a] – both former Durham Union men who had been trapped in the city of Ladysmith as it came under siege from Boer forces – on finally being relieved, and soon received a reply from the pair of them.[7]

The turn of the century saw more political debates, with society members almost invariably siding with the positions of the Conservative Party, while those of the Liberals were roundly rejected by majorities in excess of 70% at each of three debates in 1905, 1907, and 1911.[3] The third administration of Lord Salisbury attained a vote of confidence in excess of 90%.[3] Opinions on immigration were not consistent. While members applauded the robust views of Hatfield student and future Bishop of Bangor D.E. Davies, who suggested immigrants were predominantly 'disease-ridden criminals' that would 'have to be supported by public money', they rejected in the following term the motion that ‘the introduction of yellow and black races into western lands removes white man’s comforts’ by a ratio of around five to one.[8][9]

Participants in the 1912 Anniversary Inter-University Debate

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Durham Union, an inter-varsity debate chaired by then President J. E. T. Philipps, was held on Saturday 16 March 1912 at the Great Hall of University College, and featured visiting teams from Oxford, Cambridge, Trinity College, Dublin, and Edinburgh University – with the burning issue of Irish Home Rule as the subject of discussion.[10] This was something of a reunion for three of the participants: Philipps, F. K. Griffith (President of the Oxford Union), and H. Grose–Hodge (from the Cambridge Union) were all schoolmates in the same form at Marlborough College.[11]

To get around the limitations of its premises, the society traded its ownership of 44 North Bailey opposite Hatfield College for the old site of St Aidan's Society at 24 North Bailey, which allowed the creation of a social club (named the 'North Bailey Club' or, more informally '24').[1] This contains a bar which is open to all Durham Union members; a snooker room; a reading room that the Durham Union uses for functions, such as post debate entertaining, and an en-suite guest room that can be hired out by members. Student members also have the opportunity to rent bedrooms as student accommodation.[12]

In 1977 the Union was obliged to move across Palace Green to a purpose-built debating chamber in the Pemberton Buildings, which sit in the shadow of Durham Cathedral.[1]

The Union today

The Union Society's offices on Palace Green are shown in the centre of the image. To the right is the Department of Theology and Durham Cathedral

The Durham Union still maintains its offices and debating chamber on the Palace Green World Heritage Site, as well as 24 North Bailey. It hosts weekly debates featuring prominent external speakers, as well as inviting address speakers and holding social events.

The Union also excelled at competitive debating, until its debating branch disaffiliated in 2021. Having won the European Universities Debating Championship in 2005, and more recently having teams reaching the final of the European Championship, Oxford IV, Cambridge IV and John Smith Memorial Mace and the quarter-final of the World Universities Debating Championship. It also hosted the prestigious Durham Intervarsity competition, the Durham Open and Durham Schools; the world's largest residential school's debating competition.

The social highlight of the year is the annual Ball held in Michaelmas term. The programme for the evening varies, but usually consists of a champagne reception, dinner, music, and after dinner dancing. The Union also holds members only socials, with recent events including a 'Halloween Social', 'American Election Social', 'Chinese New Year Social' and 'Valentines Social'.[13]

Lord Adonis has cited his and Anna Soubry's 105-82 victory at a Durham Union Brexit debate as evidence that students are turning against Britain's decision to leave the European Union.[14] Upon winning a debate at the Durham Union, Spectator columnist James Delingpole wrote that "For a real Oxbridge education, you now have to go to Durham."[15]

NUS incident

In 2010, the Union was forced to cancel a debate on multiculturalism on safety grounds, after the National Union of Students' Black Students Officer Bell Ribeiro-Addy and LGBT Officer Daf Adley sent a letter to the Union, Durham University and Durham Students Union. The letter opposed the invitation of then BNP MEP Andrew Brons, and warned of a “colossal demonstration” if the debate went ahead. It went on to say “If any students are hurt in and around this event, responsibility will lie with you.”[16]

The cancellation of the debate by Union President Anna Birley on safety grounds was met with fierce backlash. NUS President Wes Streeting was prompted to personally appear before the Durham Union to apologise for the actions of the officers concerned, though outrage among Durham students was sufficient that a significant number protested outside the debating chamber at the time.[17] An anti-censorship protest group on Facebook quickly amassed over 2,500 members.[18] An official petition was lodged with Durham Students' Union to call for a referendum on disaffiliation from NUS.[19] On 12 March 2010, the referendum concluded with a majority of voting students choosing to disaffiliate. In 2011 the Durham Students' Union held a further referendum, whereby students taking part in the referendum voted to reaffiliate with the NUS.[20]

Chinese Embassy incident

In 2017, the Chinese Embassy attempted to block supermodel and activist Anastasia Lin from speaking in a debate. An official at the embassy warned the Union that the debate, which also featured former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, could damage relations between the UK and China.[21][22] Union President Tom Harwood insisted that "Everyone has been very polite," and the debate went ahead as planned.[23][24]

Tommy Robinson incident

In 2015, the Union cancelled a speech from Tommy Robinson, reportedly after pressure from the University.[25]

Durham Debating Split and Reaffiliation

As a result of a December 2020 members' referendum, Durham Union Debating, the student competitive debate wing of the Durham Union, voted to leave the wider Durham Union Society, and affiliate with the Durham Students' Union as the now-independent Durham Debating Society. In June 2022, the Durham Debating Society voted to reaffiliate with the Durham Union Society, and as a result left the Durham Students' Union, reversing the decision made a year and half before.[26]

Reciprocal relations

The Union's members enjoy reciprocal relations with, and use of facilities at, the Oxford Union, Cambridge Union, The Hist and The Phil of Trinity College Dublin, and the Olivaint Conference of Belgium.[27]

Notable members

Notes

  1. ^ Presumably the Reverend Ewen George Fitzroy Macpherson (BA, 1887), and the Reverend James Grove White Tuckey (a Trinity College, Oxford graduate who was a university lecturer and later chaplain of University College), both of whom were in South Africa serving as Chaplain to the Forces[5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Our History". Durham Union Society. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b Taru Haapala (9 January 2017). Political Rhetoric in the Oxford and Cambridge Unions, 1830–1870. Springer. pp. 37–38, 186.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Dockerill, Bertie (2017). "'Forgotten Voices': The Debating Societies of Durham and Liverpool, 1900–1939". In Burkett, Jodi (ed.). Students in Twentieth Century Britain and Ireland. Palgrave. pp. 101–128. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b Fowler, J. T. (5 June 1912). "The Durham Union Society". Durham University Journal. 20 (10): 205. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Unattached Members". Durham University Calendar: 227. 1897. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  6. ^ Graduates of the University. Durham: Durham University. 1948. p. 230.
  7. ^ Fowler, 1912, p. 206
  8. ^ DUS, Minute Book, 25 February 1903, University of Durham Special Collections, UND/GE1/AB2
  9. ^ DUS, Minute Book, 18 June 1903, University of Durham Special Collections, UND/GE1/AB2
  10. ^ "Durham Union Society: Visitors' Night". Durham University Journal. 20. Durham University: 201. 5 June 1912. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  11. ^ Durham Union Society: Visitor's Night, p. 202
  12. ^ "Our Buildings and Where to Find Us". Durham Union Society (via Internet Wayback Machine). 10 January 2014. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  13. ^ "Durham Union Society – Members' Socials". dus.org.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  14. ^ Adonis, Andrew. "Lord Adonis Tweet". Twitter.
  15. ^ Delingpole, James. "For a real Oxbridge education, you now have to go to Durham". The Spectator. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  16. ^ Tallentire, Mark. "Student union apologises over BNP claim". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Student union apologises over BNP claim (From the Northern Echo)". Thenorthernecho.co.uk. 10 February 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  18. ^ "NUS mis-handling prompts backlash". Palatinate Newspaper. 22 February 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  19. ^ "NUS mis-handling prompts backlash". Palatinate.org.uk. 8 February 2010. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
  20. ^ Johnson, Daniel (28 January 2011). "60% vote to reaffiliate with NUS". Palatinate Online. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
  21. ^ Swerling, Gabriella. "Student debate will harm relations, insists China". The Times. The Times of London. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  22. ^ Waterson, Jim. "The Chinese Embassy Told Durham University's Debating Society Not To Let This Former Miss World Contestant Speak At A Debate". Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed News. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  23. ^ Minting, Stuart. "Durham: Chinese embassy official calls for speaker to be barred from University debate". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  24. ^ "Durham Union Tweet". Twitter. The Durham Union. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  25. ^ Hopkins, Steve. "Tommy Robinson Speaking Events Cancelled At Edinburgh And Durham Universities After Pegida Speech". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  26. ^ Poppy. "Debating Society votes to leave Durham Students' Union". Palatinate. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  27. ^ Why Get Involved Durham Union Society, Accessed October 2006
  28. ^ "Week One Debate". Cambridge Union Society Term Card: 13. 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  29. ^ Sengupta, Kim (18 July 2009). "Soldier's soldier: General Sir Richard Dannatt". The Independent. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  30. ^ Willis, Harriet (18 November 2017). "In conversation with Mark Elliott: In defence of the travel guide". Palatinate. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  31. ^ "Rt Hon Sir Edward Leigh MP". Gainsborough Conservatives. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  32. ^ "Biography". Giles Ramsay (via Internet Wayback Machine). 29 July 2019. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  33. ^ "Durham graduate named Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice". Durham University. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
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