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Debating Society
Before I start, I really ought to declare an interest in the contents of this article: as the one who is supposed to be in charge of debating at St. Andrews, I may not be the most impartial reviewer you could hope for. Indeed, when I was asked to write this I was initially tempted to craft a shameless sales pitch, but now I have actually now changed my mind, and shall attempt write something at least vaguely approaching an objective assessment.
by this year's President and Convenor
Debating in St. Andrews works a little differently to a lot of other universities. Rather than operating as a private club which students must join in order to become involved, here the Union Debating Society is heavily involved with the Students Association. All students automatically become members, and can take part in our activities free of charge. The Society is headed by the Convenor and President, who is elected annually during the diet of Association elections to a position known as SSC Debates Officer, and sits on the SSC (Student Services Committee) in this capacity. Assisting the Convenor is a group known as the Board of Ten; as well as being the body that runs the Society, this is also a sub-committee of the SSC. Officers of the Board have their own remits connected with the different aspects of the Society, such as running inter-varsity competitions, co-ordinating our work with schools, and taking on numerous administrative and ceremonial roles. We are funded primarily by grants from the Students' Association and corporate sponsorship, in particular by our main sponsor, PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The most visible work of the Society is to put on showpiece debates, which we hold roughly every fortnight. There rather grand affairs take place in Parliament Hall on South Street (part of St. Maryķs College), once the site of the Scottish Parliament, which makes for a very fine debating chamber. We try to make our schedule as varied as possible; this year we're considering issues from the very serious (capital punishment, sustainable development in the third world), to the rather more light-hearted (fashion, extraterrestrial life), to the downright bizarre (legalisation of sado-masochism). As well as encouraging participation from students, we regularly involve members of staff, and often attract high-profile guest speakers. In December, we hold our annual Parliamentary Debate; this is possibly our biggest event of the year, and sees well-known politicians debating the motion 'This House Has No Confidence in Her Majesty's Government'. We are also a very traditional society, and nowhere is this more evident than in our Parliament Hall debates. Attend for the first time and you will witness numerous strange and arcane rituals, many of whose origins have become lost in the mists of time. In a sense this is hardly suprising; we are after all St. Andrews' oldest society, and the oldest debating society in the UK. Some think our antics childish and anachronistic, but it is they that distinguish St. Andrews from pretty much any other debating society in the world. They can also make for a fantastic atmosphere in Parliament Hall - especially the tradition that encourages everyone to make their feelings known at any time with cries of 'Hear, hear!' and 'Shame!'. Many debates are followed by lavish dinners which really must be experienced at least once, and recently we have begun to experiment with a different style of debating concurrently: the entirely informal 'pub debates'. Held on alternate weeks, these are entirely focussed upon student involvement. Our activities are by no means limited to putting on our own debates, however. We regularly send teams to national and international tournaments, and offer a full training programme to students of all levels of experience which, again as with all our activities, are completely free of charge. The skills honed during these training and practice sessions can be put to use in all aspects of life, and the sessions have been immensely valuable to those who have benefited from them in the past. Students have the opportunity to showcase their talents internally, as well: each year we run a number of internal competitions, in addition to our own inter-ėvarsity tournaments. Of particular interest to new students will be the Maiden Speakers' Competition, which allows those new to the Society to compete with each other for a place in the final, which is held as a showpiece debate in Parliament Hall. Perhaps our most valuable function in respect of the wider community is our involvement with local schools. Our most long-standing annual event is the Junior Schools' Debating Competition, as sponsored by the Dundee Courier newspaper and the Royal Bank of Scotland. From relatively early in the session, rounds are held twice weekly in local schools, and the Society sends volunteers to act as Chairman, Serjeant-at-Arms, presiding judge and floor speaker. This presents an excellent opportunity for student involvement, not least because those participating will be given an evening meal afterwards, and those going to three or more rounds will be invited to a grand dinner on the night of the final. It is also a chance to act as an ambassador for the university. The 2003-04 session shall see the inauguration of a new senior schools' competition, which will involve travelling further afield but taking on similar roles. We also plan to visit numerous local schools, offering tailored debating workshops in addition to the annual training day held in St. Andrews, to which pupils from all schools in the area are invited. These activities can, in a sense, be the most rewarding of all. I hope I've managed in this article to convey some sense of the genuine enthusiasm that I, and many of our other active members, have for the Society; at the same time I've tried to avoid coming across as a salesman. I do, however, think - with all the objectivity in the world - that the Union Debating Society has a lot to offer everyone in St. Andrews, and that it is worth at least considering getting involved with us. The real tragedy is if people who would really enjoy taking part were to miss out, simply because they never took the time to go along to a debate one evening and see if it's for them. So, why not give us a go? Chances are, you'll be glad you did. If you'd like to find out more about the Union Debating Society, the first port of call is our website. This contains a full schedule of events, contact details for myself and the rest of the Board, and the minutes of all our showpiece debates from last year. It also holds a link to our online message board, generously provided by our present host, The Sinner, as well as a sign-up box for our own weekly 'linkup' email. Contact us by email. Posted 18:33, 2nd Jul 2003 by DavidBean in section Sinner's Guide (suggest an article in this category) Readers' Comments
If you agree or disagree with this opinion, then feel free to have your say - post your comments below.
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