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Debating society in Cambridge, England

The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. The society was founded in 1815 and is the oldest continuously running debating society in the world. Additionally, the Cambridge Union has served as a model for the foundation of similar societies at several other prominent universities, including the Oxford Union and the Yale Political Union. The Union is a private society with membership open to all students of Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin University. The Cambridge Union is a registered charity and is completely separate from the Cambridge University Students' Union. The Cambridge Union has a long and extensive tradition of hosting prominent figures from all areas of public life in its chamber, both state and international based, including the Dalai Lama, President Ronald Reagan, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, as well as comedian Stephen Fry. Previous presidents of the Cambridge Union have included author Arianna Huffington and economist John Maynard Keynes.

The Cambridge Union was founded on 13 February 1815, eight years before the Oxford Union was founded in 1823. Several years after it was founded, on 24 March 1817, the Cambridge Union was temporarily shut down by the university. In 1821 the Union was allowed to reform, under strict guidelines. The Cambridge Union's Bridge Street premises were designed by Alfred Waterhouse (who went on to design the Oxford Union Society's building) and formally opened on 30 October 1866. An additional wing was added several decades later. The future radical Liberal politician, Sir Charles Dilke, was the President chiefly responsible for construction. Included among the building's many rooms are the debating chamber, a dining room, bar, snooker room, the Keynes Library and various offices. After more than 200 years, the Cambridge Union is best known for its debates, which receive national and international media attention. The top members of its debating team compete internationally against other top debating societies. The program also includes special events, such as a comedy debate in collaboration with the Cambridge Footlights. The Union also organises talks by visiting speakers and a wide array of events throughout the academic year.

In January 2015 the Union announced a £9.5m refurbishment project to begin in late 2016 to address major structural problems and to expand existing facilities, subject to approval by planners, to include a new Wine Bar on the ground floor and a Jazz & Comedy Club in the basement (in the old home of the Cambridge Footlights). It also announced a plan to use the revenue generated from the new building to reduce membership fees to make the Union more accessible to students from lower income backgrounds, and to increase the size of its competitive debating activities for disadvantaged children and students. The development was to be partially financed through the leasing of disused parts of its site to Trinity College in a deal worth £4.5 million. Construction on the major redevelopment project was scheduled to begin in Michaelmas 2018.

The Cambridge Union receives no formal funding from the university and raises funds for event expenses and building maintenance through membership fees and sponsorship. For most of its history the Cambridge Union was an all male club. By the early 1960s this was perceived as an embarrassment and an anachronism. Votes were held to amend the constitution to allow women as members, but although a majority voted in favour, they failed to meet the two thirds majority required by the constitution to make constitutional change. On one occasion a female student gate crashed a debate and was removed, the whole incident seen and reported in the national press. In about 1965 the amendment was passed and in Michaelmas 1967 Ann Mallalieu became the first female president. Membership is now open to all students at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University. Members are able to bring guests to certain functions provided that the guests would not be allowed to purchase membership. Social events and events organised by external bodies are occasionally open to the public, with discounts for Union members.

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. One of the Union's most famous debates in recent years was between Richard Dawkins and Rowan Williams in February 2013, on the motion, 'This House Believes Religion has no place in the 21st Century', which was rejected by the assembled members. The Union's debates regarding religion have also created several controversial incidents, including in October 2014, when Peter Hitchens, speaking in favour of the motion ‘This House Regrets the Rise of New Atheism’, appeared to break the rules of the House by physically intimidating Lord Desai after a heated exchange.

Arguably the most notable debate to have been held at the Union was the 1965 Baldwin/Buckley Debate. The debate, which was televised by the BBC, featured writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin and leading American conservative intellectual William F. Buckley. The motion under consideration was that ‘This House Believes The American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro’ and the proposition won by a landslide. At the time the debate received extensive coverage on both sides of the Atlantic, and in subsequent years has come to be seen as a significant moment in the US Civil Rights Movement.

The Cambridge Union is an organisation that was founded and is headed by students. Each term is planned and carried out by a mixture of elected officers and appointed student staff, with support from the organisation's non student staff and trustees. The governance of the Cambridge Union is mandated by its Constitution.

The Standing Committee (or 'Voting Members') is the Union's primary managerial body of 15 members, which consists of the current President, Vice President and Officers, the President Elect and Officers Elect, and the Debating Officers, Communications Officer and Treasurer. All Officers of the Union are elected by its membership on a termly basis, with the exception of the Vice President, Treasurer, Communications Officer and two Debating Officers, who are appointed on an annual basis. Officers of the Union are elected a term in advance, allowing them to serve one term as an officer elect to prepare for their following term in office.

During every term, the Standing Committee appoints a variety of positions within the Union. These range from the Secretary to positions in the Events Management, Publicity, Audio Visual and Press departments, among others. Collectively, these positions are referred to as 'Full Committee'.

The Cambridge Union was famous within the university for having a very long and complicated constitution; it is a common rumour that the constitution is longer than the entire Constitution of Canada. This was in fact untrue, but only just: a quick count puts the old Union constitution in question at 31,309 words while the complete Constitution of Canada is 31,575 words long. If the university's rules on Single Transferable Voting are included, then this Constitution was indeed longer than that of Canada. These rules are referenced within this old constitution, but are not contained.

On 9 May 2011, the Union launched its online public video service CUS Connect, whereby recordings of past events and interviews were uploaded for free viewing. These have since been transferred the Union's YouTube channel titled 'The Cambridge Union'. Before 2014, the Union only occasionally live streamed popular events, with the first ever live stream held on 12 May 2011, in which Stephen Fry debated Radio 1 DJ Kissy Sell Out on the motion: "This House believes that classical music is irrelevant to today's youth".

As part of its bicentennial celebrations in 2015, the Union launched a permanent live streaming service, to be integrated with a new automatic multi camera rig in the Main Chamber. The new service includes the ability for "virtual" attendees to contribute to debates via questions and comments to be read out on the floor of the Union. The streaming service is hosted on the Union's website and is available only to members.

The Cambridge Union, like its Oxford counterpart, has faced controversy over its choice of speakers. Protests have been arranged by students against the appearance of Universities Minister David Willetts, Government Minister Eric Pickles, during which the building was broken into, former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn, French politician Marine Le Pen and Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange. In January 2015, the hosting of Germaine Greer caused a public row between the Union and the Cambridge Students' Union's LGBT+ group, due to Greer's alleged transmisogyny towards Rachael Padman. In June 2019, the hosting of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad attracted criticism from the Union of Jewish Students, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and several former Cambridge Union members including former President Adam Cannon due to the former's anti Semitic remarks. In February 2022, the Union hosted the Israel ambassador Tzipi Hotovely in a high security, balloted event, resulting in protests and minor vandalism of the premises. Responding to these criticisms, the Union is often quoted as upholding the universal right to free speech, against the principles of No Platform passed by the National Union of Students and upheld by a few groups within Cambridge.

Lobbying by former Union Presidents Lord Deben and Lord Lamont resulted in the specific exclusion of the Cambridge and Oxford Unions from the Government's counter terrorism bill, amid fears it could restrict free debate. Deben argued that the provisions within the bill would have prevented the hosting of British Union of Fascists' leader Oswald Mosley in the 1950s, concluding that the bill threatened "an essential British value". The National Union of Students used the exclusion to argue that the passage of the Bill was too rapid and ill thought out, whilst both the Oxford and Cambridge Union reaffirmed that they were not legally part of their respective Universities and thus were never subject to the bill in the first place. Strong opposition to the bill from Liberal Democrats and senior Conservative peers eventually resulted in the shelving of provisions regarding Universities' until after the 2015 General Election. The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 eventually clarified that higher education institutions must retain particular regard to the duty to ensure freedom of speech and the importance of academic freedom within university societies, although it is unclear whether this applies to the Union.

The union called a referendum on the hosting of Julian Assange on 22 October 2015, arguing that his residency in the Ecuadorian Embassy meant he was outside the jurisdiction of UK law, and thus required the consultation of its members considering a lack of past precedent. The referendum was more widely viewed as an opinion poll on the union's refusal to "no platform" speakers. It passed with 76.9% of the vote. Turnout was 1463.