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, to provide recreational and social facilities for students and staff. Buoyed by its successful contribution to the Tercentenary Festival, the SRC set about public fundraising. Letters were sent to prominent figures in Edinburgh and public subscription lists were opened. £5000 was raised in this manner, and further contributions were received from the Senatus Academicus (£500) and Town Council (£100). In November 1886, a Fancy Fair at Waverley Market brought in a further £10,000. Funds were now sufficient to engage an architect Sydney Mitchell (1856-1930) and to begin construction on a site adjoining the newly opened Medical School.

The building (in a distinctive fifteenth-century palace-block style) was officially opened on 19 October 1889. It was very much designed on the lines of a Victorian gentleman's club. It included a restaurant, library (with books donated by academics and former students), gymnasium (later converted into a billiards room), and a debating hall, which would become both a meeting place for many university societies and a venue for dances and other social events. The newly opened Union was run by an elected Committee of Management headed by the Union President, Membership was by subscription, however, and only a small minority of students joined. Unsurprisingly, given the proximity of the Union to their classrooms, medical students were initially in a great majority. (An impression that the Union was primarily for medical students had also been created by the unfortunate decision to hold the opening ceremony before the Arts Faculty had assembled for the academic year.)

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.

First challenge to male domination of the Union came in 1936, when the Debates Committee decided to admit women for the first time and invited two final year medical students, Agnes McLaren and Ian MacQueen (the new Senior President of the SRC) to address the house on the motion 'This House believes that abortion should be legalised;'. In a swift counter-move, the Committee of Management produced a regulation barring women from all parts of the Union the Debating Hall. The invitation to McLaren was cancelled and a male student invited instead. MacQueen, though, stood by McLaren and announced their intention to hold a rival debate in hired premises. At length, a compromise was reached whereby women were allowed to participate in the debate but not be main speakers. In the ensuing debate, McLaren intervened vigorously from the floor. Soon after, the Debates Committee was replaced by a University Debates Committee containing members nominated by the SRC, the University Union, and the Women's Union.

Membership declined in the interwar years, due to a) the opening of Cowan House as a student Hall of Residence with full catering services b) the opening of a separate union, King's Buildings House, at the new Faculty of Science campus, and c) the proliferation of coffee shops, restaurants, and bars outside the university which proved a disincentive to paying the Union's subscription fee. This led to a first scheme, promoted by Sir Donald Pollock (1868-1962), to bring the SRC, the University Union, and the Women's Union together into a Joint Union, which would be open to all students, either free of charge or at a very much more moderation inscription rate. Unfortunately, the Government proved reluctant to provided funding for proposed the Joint Union, and fears of exorbitant inscription fees and loss of independence led to the abandonment of the scheme.

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.