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| Formation | Before 1770; claims 1451. Refounded 1861. |
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| Location | |
| Membership | ~145 (excl. Life Members) |
President | Sally Dean[1] |
Honorary Secretary | Cameron MacKenzie[1] |
Honorary President | [[]] |
Colours | |
Parent organization | University of Glasgow |
| Affiliations | Glasgow University Union, Students' Representative Council |
| Website | Society Website |
TheGlasgow University Dialectic Society, re-instituted in 1861, is a student society at theUniversity of Glasgow,Scotland, committed to the promotion ofdebating,logic,ethics and literary discussion at the university. The society is independent and open to all students of the university, but maintains strong links with debating atGlasgow University Union.
The date of the society's foundation is contested; the earliest paper records of the society are dated before 1770, and there are, moreover, mentions within the university records of a society existing and being open to students who tookLogic, back when the university still resided withinGlasgow Cathedral. By 1776 students at the University had formed three societies, "the Eclectic, the Dialectic, and the Academic", of whichJohn Jamieson was a member of all three. Society meetings were held in college classrooms, and attended by visitors and professors.[2]Pope John Paul II issued a 'Papal Letter' to the society upon his visit to Scotland in 1982, which recognised the society's claim to have been established in 1451. The society was formally re-instituted in 1861. The society has led the UK's university debating culture since 1953. In 1955, it won theObserver Mace, now theJohn Smith Memorial Mace, named after the deceased GUU debater and former leader of the British Labour Party. The Society won the 1983World University Debating Championships in Princeton with a team headed byJohn Nicolson and Frank McKiergan.[3] The GUU has since won the Mace debating championship sixteen more times, far more than any other university. The GUU has also won the World Universities Debating Championships five times.
The society organises a variety of events during term-time ranging from panel debates and discussions to social mixers and show debates for its members. In November, the society holds a New Members' Dinner, followed in March by the Annual Members' Dinner, held shortly before the AGM. Additionally it holds the Honorary President's Debate and a Sports Day - the Dialectic Olympics - as part of its marquee annual events. The society holds a number of more informal events, especially duringFreshers' Week, to attract new members.
Two internal competitions are organised by the society: the Reftable, for new speakers; and the Garry-MacDonald Debate, between incoming and outgoing club leaders of the Glasgow University Union's Parliamentary Clubs.
The Dialectic Society, along with theGlasgow University Medico-Chirurgical Society andGlasgow University Athletic Club, was one of the founding societies of the Glasgow University Union in 1885, as well as being instrumental in establishing theGlasgow University Students' Representative Council the following year, and remains an active contributor to the activities of both organisations.[4]
The archives of Glasgow University Dialectic Society are maintained by the Archives of the University of Glasgow (GUAS).
The management of the society is entrusted to a board elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Board consists of an Executive of five individuals comprising the President, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer, and Assistant Honorary Secretary. They are additionally joined on the Board by the Whip Secretary, Publicity Secretary, Macer, Social convenor, Welfare Officer, Charity Officer, Archive Librarian, and up to four Ordinary Board Members, the number of which is determined by the newly elected Executive.[1] Two first-year members are elected to the Board by the end of the first semester of each year. The Convenor of Debates of theGlasgow University Union and the Society's immediate past President areEx Officio members of the Board.
The electoral procedure at the AGM runs such that posts are filled in descending order, allowing those who failed to win more important posts to stand for others. The AGM was traditionally held at the end of the university'sCandlemas Term, around the middle of March. Despite the new semester-based structure of the university's academic year, this remains the case and the AGM is now held shortly before the end of the teaching period of the second semester, which is separated from the exam period by the Easter vacation.
At the AGM the Society elects an Honorary President, alongside up to eight Honorary Vice-Presidents and Honorary Life Members. Those elected are often respected public figures and persons who have done some service to the Society, although less serious joke candidates often also make it onto the ballot.[5] From time to time these elections have generated some public controversy, most notably with the previous choices ofBobby Sands andLeopoldo Galtieri.[6][7] The current Honorary President is current First MinisterHumza Yousaf.
One of the honorary president's duties is to chair the Honorary President's Debate, held in February each year. If not chaired by the Honorary President, then the next highest ranking member of the Board (usually the President) will chair the debate.
Notable former members of the society include:
| Discipline | Humanities,arts,social sciences |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publication details | |
| History | 2007–present |
| Publisher | Glasgow University Union (United Kingdom) |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Yes | |
| License | CC-BY 4.0 |
| Standard abbreviations ISO 4 (alt) · Bluebook (alt) NLM (alt) · MathSciNet (alt  ) | |
| ISO 4 | Groundings |
| Indexing CODEN (alt · alt2) · JSTOR (alt) · LCCN (alt) MIAR · NLM (alt) · Scopus · W&L | |
| ISSN | 1754-7474 (print) 1755-2702 (web) |
| Links | |
The society was responsible for the founding ofGroundings, an interdisciplinaryjournal publishing work in thehumanities,arts, andsocial sciences.[12]
Groundings was established by the society in 2007 and has since been published annually. The purpose of the journal is to provide an opportunity forundergraduate students at the university to have their work peer-reviewed and published in an accessible academic resource as a stepping stone to publication in more mainstream scholarly journals. As such, all entries are written by undergraduate students, and the editorial board is made up of undergraduates, although there exists an advisory panel mainly comprising academics of the university drawn from a range of disciplines.
Following an agreement between the Society and the Glasgow University Union in 2018, control over the management and publication of Groundings was transferred into the remit of the Convener of Libraries on the Board of Management of the Glasgow University Union, with the archives librarian acting as a representative for the Dialectic Society amongst the editors.
There are generally around ten articles per volume, each written and peer-reviewed by undergraduate students, and each volume of the journal follows a theme, to which it is intended the articles in that volume will relate. The theme for the first volume was "Identity and Commemoration", and for the second volume, "Individuals, institutions, and the relations between them". The themes used are intentionally broad in order to accommodate the largest variety possible between submissions, whilst ensuring each volume retains a sense of inherent direction.
The journal is produced in paper and electronic form, with initial funding for publication provided by theChancellor's Fund. Print copies are made available to a number of depositories in the United Kingdom, including theGlasgow University Library, and the journal is available to read online.
