Contents Welcome Speakers Debates Freshers’ week Freshers’ festival History Opportunities Join
Robert Downey Jr. having a particularly excellent time here a few years ago
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elcome to Cambridge! Your coming months and years here will be some of the most exciting and rewarding times of your life – defined by, I hope, all sorts of happy memories, chaotic evenings, and new experiences. If your time here is anything like mine, it’ll also be defined by the people you stumble into and the lifelong friends you turn out to make. For me, the place that so many of those friends and memories were made has been the Cambridge Union. It turned me from a hugely shy and nervous fresher into someone who could interview Nancy Pelosi in front of 450 people – which is to say, it changed my life. And I hope as many of you who’re in the place I was two years ago can be as fortunate as I have been in discovering the Union – which is why we’ve created this guide. What is the Cambridge Union, then? Aside from being the largest society in Cambridge and the oldest debating society in the world, the Union is the focal point of Cambridge’s social life, home to an extraordinary range of events, people, and opportunities. From the speakers we bring in – Bill Gates, Dua Lipa, Jeremy Corbyn, AJ Tracey, and Theresa May in my time here alone – to our famous Thursday night debates and our huge socials (one of which is just for those who join this term - see page 10), no other society comes close to matching the scale and density of our calendar.
More than that, though, we’re a proper members’ society: there’s lots to Union life beyond our flagship events. This year we opened our new bar, The Orator, where members get 20% off year-round: the perfect place to meet new people and join us for a more casual social or two. We also have a (lovely) members’ library, and can offer our members money off lots of local shops, cafés and nightclubs. And, of course, everything here is run by students, so if you really want to get involved you might find yourself interviewing speakers one day too. It’s an awful lot easier to get sucked in than you’d think! So – a lot going on. If you’re curious, do pay us a visit during freshers’ week, where we’ve got lots of fun (and free) events lined up (see pages 6-9). Hopefully a taste of the place in-person is enough to persuade you we’re worth joining. And if you have any questions for us that aren’t answered here (or on our website at cambridgeunion.org), please do email us at info@cus.org too. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you around! Best wishes,
Keir Bradwell President Michaelmas 2021
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ummarising the speakers who join us is no easy task. At first glance it’s tempting to list some of our former Prime Ministers (Johnson, Thatcher, Churchill, Attlee, May), American political figures (Roosevelt, Reagan, Pelosi), or world leaders (Nehru, Tutu, the Dalai Lama). But some of our most fondly-remembered speakers have been of a different sort altogether: our Hollywood stars (Robert Downey Jr., Judi Dench), former Footlights (Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson), and musicians (Dua Lipa, AJ Tracey). Stephen Hawking delivered one of his final public appearances here, and the Fellowship set up in his name has led to a strong line of STEM speakers, too: Bill Gates, Jony Ive, and this term Katalin Karikó, inventor of the mRNA vaccine. In short, then, what really unites our best speakers is their prominence – and the fact they’re right on your doorstep. Where else could you hear from people like this, quiz them face-to-face, and then take a photo with them afterwards? It’s little wonder our speaker events create such a lasting impression on those who attend.
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or the last 206 years, on almost every termtime Thursday the Union has staged one of its worldfamous debates. Here in 1933, Clement Attlee ensured the triumph of socialism over fascism; in 1965, James Baldwin and William Buckley went head to head over race in America. Debates of such historic importance continue to the present day – in 2013, Richard Dawkins took on Rowan Williams over religion; in the same year Jeremy Corbyn and Mehdi Hasan argued over America’s foreign policy. Alongside these speakers could be you. Because for all they attract eye-catching names, the real joy of our debates is in seeing students joining the line-up, and often out-performing those they argue alongside. Even if you’ve decided not to audition for a speaking slot, you can still get involved on the night, too. ‘Points of information’ interjections and short two-minute floor speeches (between each pair of main speeches) are actively encouraged. And in any event, our debates always continue in the bar long into the evening.
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ur Society dates back to 1815, after a drunken brawl between two or perhaps three pre-existing societies. The society grew across the 19th century, moving into our current home in 1866. By 1905, John Maynard Keynes had been President; in Easter 1910, Theodore Roosevelt spoke a year after he left office as US President; while that decade David Lloyd George came to visit; and Winston Churchill joined us for a debate too. WW2 left Union activity suspended, but the chamber was not left empty: Montgomery laid out early D-Day plans here. Bombed by the Luftwaffe (below), some of the older volumes in our library still bear shrapnel scars. By the ‘60s and ‘70s, the Union had become a training ground for future public figures: Michael Howard, Ken Clarke, Vince Cable, and Arianna Huffington all began their careers from the President’s chair. The ‘60s also saw the society open up to women for the first time, after three women burst into a chamber during a debate in 1961. In Michaelmas 1967, Ann (later Baroness) Mallalieu became our first female President. Since then, the importance of the Union as a venue has only deepened: Ronald Reagan visited in 1990, while in 1999, the Union held the ‘Kosovo Forum’, which saw representatives from all sides come together for the first time, as televised by the BBC, CNN, and Sky. In 2007, Jalal Talabani visited the Union having become the first elected president of Iraq.
Our library, then
With such a history, it becomes quite difficult to name everyone who has spoken here. But since even the last lockdown, we have welcomed Nancy Pelosi, Jeremy Corbyn, Theresa May, and AJ Tracey. There’s an impressive history to live up to – but we hope you don’t think we’re doing too badly.
Our library, now
Our facilities & study spaces
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e’ve just completed an enormous redevelopment project - so you’ve timed your Cambridge experience perfectly to receive all of the benefits and none of the building work. We now have a library (as above), as well as the Fairfax Rhodes reading room, available for dayime use as a study space. And the Union Cellars - where the Footlights were founded - is operational too! We’ll be hosting socials there all Michaelmas long.
Our discounts
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rom £15 off our T.B.A. Winter Ball, to 20% off at our bar and brasserie, and money off countless club nights, there are sound financial reasons to become a member too. The full range will be announced in the termcard!
Competitive debating
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he Union is also Cambridge’s hub for competitive debating. We offer the chance to take part in debating competitions locally, nationally, and internationally. It doesn’t matter if you’ve spent your secondary school years debating or have never debated before – we welcome all levels of experience with the aim of taking complete novices to becoming some of the best debaters in the world. Our expert coaches give personalised feedback - so even if you don’t fancy competitions, our workshops will improve your analytical skills and public speaking. We provide multiple opportunities for debaters to travel internationally: in the past five years, we’ve funded trips to South Africa, Malaysia, India, and beyond. We plan to continue to provide such opportunities this year! To stay in the loop, join the Facebook group ‘Cambridge Debating’.
Ways to join us We hope this guide has shown that joining the Union is a worthwhile investment. But we’re also keen to ensure you make the most of a variety of discounts and schemes we’re offering (some for a limited time) to reduce the cost of doing so. For more info, see cambridgeunion.org.
Freshers’ discount - £185 lifetime membership (Offer runs until 21st October)
Our freshers’ discount brings the price of lifetime membership for those matriculating in 2021 down from £200 to £185. (That’s £2.37 per week of term of a three year degree.) The first 600 new lifetime members this year will receive guaranteed entry to our Freshers’ Festival; everyone thereafter will be entered into a ballot for the remaining spaces. The £185 discounted rate ends with the end of our ‘open period’, or the 21st October, after which point all events will revert to being members-only.
Second years’ discount - £155 lifetime membership (Offer runs until 21st October) Last year, joining the Union was a much more difficult sell: unlike now, there was no freshers’ ball, and most of our events went online. Since so many missed out, for this year’s open period (but only this year’s!), we’re offering a one-off ‘second years’ discount’ until the 20th October. This brings lifetime membership for those who matriculated in 2020 from £200 down to £155, the least lifetime membership has been in years. New second years are still eligible for tickets to our Freshers’ Festival, too, including getting a free ticket if one of the first 600 to sign up.
Access membership - lifetime membership from £115 Access membership is the same as lifetime membership, but is offered to those on University of Cambridge or Anglia Ruskin University bursaries in order to make the Union more widely accessible. This year, the bursary scheme includes three ‘tiers’ of discount: £200 lifetime price reduced to £115, for incomes below £25,000 £200 lifetime price reduced to £135, for incomes £25,001-£33,750 £200 lifetime price reduced to £155, for incomes £33,751-£42,620 To benefit from access membership, all we require is a letter of entitlement from your university or Student Finance England. New for 2021, we will also accept a letter from the previous year for new graduate students who would otherwise be unable to prove their income. More details of the exact mechanics of applying for our access memberships can be found at cus.org/join. As with all other lifetime memberships, access membership grants you all the same rights and privileges as members who join at full price. Which means you’ll still be eligible for our Freshers’ Festival.
Scholarships & funding This year, for the first time ever, we’re introducing a range of fully-funded lifetime memberships for students. The scheme in operation is called the ‘Stephen Fry Scholarship’ programme, in honour of Fry’s longstanding commitment to the Union. The scheme enables 30 STEM students in a position of financial need to join the Union entirely free of charge. The application form can be found at cambridgeunion.org. We are very hopeful that in future years opportunities like this will continue to grow - this is only the beginning of our efforts.