The Durham Union, a registered charity and oldest debating society in Durham, has been excluded from this year’s fresher’s fair, according to the Telegraph. The decision not to give space to the Union was made by the Durham Students’ Union (DSU), which claimed that the debating society had failed to “improve” following accusations of racism last year.
Established in 1842 and modelled on the debating societies of Oxford and Cambridge, the Durham Union plays a key role in life at the University. Over the years, the Union has hosted a varied list of speakers ranging from Jeremy Irons to Boris Johnson, and it currently counts over 3000 active student members. While not technically a student society, and open to other local residents, the Union is primarily attended by students at Durham.
As such, the Union usually advertises at the annual fresher’s fair where new students can learn about the various societies and extracurricular opportunities at the University. However, this year the Durham Students’ Union, which runs the fair, decided not to invite the debating society. Its reason was that the Union had failed to improve its record on Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity, or EDI.
In the past, the DSU has accused the Durham Union of allowing racism and sexism to go unchecked within the Union and at its events. Specifically, they highlighted an incident last year in which a student alleged that a member of the Union’s Equalities Committee had directed a racial slur at her. There was a row, investigations by both the University and the Union itself, and finally a forced apology from the member in question.
In the aftermath of this incident, the Durham Union issued the usual vague statements about the need to improve, and Durham University also vowed to “learn” from the apology, which it described as “not commensurate with the serious nature of the offence”. At the time, a spokesperson for the university claimed that more significant disciplinary measures had been taken against the offender, although no extra details were offered.
Since then, the debating society has apparently not learnt its lesson, at least not according to the DSU, which told the Telegraph that the Durham Union “had failed to keep its promise”. It is not exactly clear on which metrics the Union failed to improve, but DSU maintains that an agreement was made last year, and that the Union has not lived up to it.
In its statement to the Telegraph, the DSU said that it allowed the Durham Union participate in the fresher’s fair of 2023, “[a]s an act of goodwill”. Now, its magnanimity has been exhausted, and the Union has had to seek an outlet elsewhere. Luckily, the pro vice-chancellor of Durham University made an alternative space available for them.
Toby Young, head of the Free Speech Union, criticised the DSU’s decision, suggesting that it violated the University’s legal duty to protect free speech. He also questioned just how much “goodwill” had been present in the first place, citing previous comments by the current president of the DSU regarding his “unambiguous … dislike of [Durham Union Society]”. Another member described the Union as a place for “parliamentary-style debates by tuxedo-clad provocateurs”.
This is not the first time that the DSU has been criticised for its record on free speech. A couple of years ago, it was announced that the Students’ Union would vet all “high risk” speakers, granting itself the right to cancel any event involving external speakers. The category of high-risk might include any person “widely regarded as controversial” or with links “to any person or groups connected with controversy.”
While the Durham Union wrestles with the hopeless task of figuring out how to “improve” sufficiently on matters of EDI, perhaps the Durham Students’ Union should consider how it might improve its own record on free speech. Hopefully, old and new students at Durham will ignore the DSU’s attempt to ‘protect’ them from the country’s fourth oldest debating society, and continue to attend the lively discussions and high-profile speaker meetings that take place throughout each term.