Edinburgh University Union

Edinburgh University Union in Teviot Row House was opened on 19 October 1889. It is is the oldest purpose built student union in the world.

Following its formation in 1884, the Students' Representative Council set as its first priority the opening of a University Union. Buoyed by its successful contribution to the Tercentenary Festival, the SRC set about public fundraising. Over, £10,000 paid was raised by a Fancy Fair at Waverley Market in November 1886. The new Union was built very much on the lines of a Victorian gentleman's club. It included a restaurant, library, and debating hall, which would become both a meeting place for many university societies and a venue for dances and other social events. Membership was by subscription, however, and only a small minority of students joined. Medical students were initially in a great majority, as the Union premises in Teviot Row adjoined the newly opened Medical School.

Edinburgh University Women's Union opened in October 1905. A University Union had existed for male students since 1889, but its constitution forbade the admission of women. Premises were obtained at 53 Lothian Street but these soon proved too small, as female student numbers rose dramatically in the first decades of the 20th century. In 1919 new temporary accommodation was obtained in George Square, and eventually in 1927 the Women's Union moved into the ground floor and basement of 54 George Square. When this building was demolished as part of the university redevelopment in 1964, the Women's Union moved to 16 Chambers Street and renamed itself the Chambers Street Union.

The Chambers Street Union voted to admit male students shortly before Edinburgh University Union finally voted to admit women on 5 February 1971. On 1 July 1973 Chambers Street Union merged with the Students' Representative Council and Edinburgh University Union to form Edinburgh University Students' Association. Under the terms of the merger, the Representative Council and University Union continued to exist as discrete bodies. The Chambers Street Union, conversely, was dissolved and became part of the University Union.

Foundation

EUSA was founded in 1973 via the merger of the Students' Representative Council (SRC), the Edinburgh University Union, and the Chambers Street Union (formerly the Edinburgh University Women's Union). This was the culmination of a campaign to bring all student bodies together into a single organization. In 1971, Edinburgh University Union finally voted to admit female students shortly after the Chambers Street Union had extended its membership to male students. Negotiations now began to dissolve the SRC and the two unions and to create a single students' association. It was soon established, however, that the SRC could not be dissolved as it had been officially recognised by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889. Nor was it possible to alter its constitution in a way that would permit it to take over responsibility for the unions. In the end, it was resolved that the Students' Representative Council and Edinburgh University Union would continue to exist as discrete entities within the proposed association. Chambers Street Union, conversely, would merge entirely with Edinburgh University Union. Edinburgh University Students' Association was officially constituted on 1 July 1973. Each newly matriculated student would automatically become a member. A later merger, in 1989, brought Kings' Buildings House into the Association.

See Also

• Foundation of Students' Representative Council, 1884
• Foundation of Edinburgh University Students' Association, 1973

Sources

• Robert D. Anderson, 'The Construction of a Modern University', in Robert D. Anderson, Michael Lynch, and Nicholas Phillipson, The University of Edinburgh: An Illustrated History (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003), pp. 103-207.
• Iain Catto (ed.), 'No spirits and precious few women': Edinburgh University Union 1889-1989 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Union and Iain Catto, 1989)
• Sir Thomas Henry Holland, 'Introduction', in A. Logan Turner (ed.), History of the University of Edinburgh 1883-1933 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1933), pp. xiii-xxx.