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The Yale Political Union
Ypubanner.png
Founded 1934
Home Page The Yale Political Union

Elected Officers of the Union, Spring 2010
President Leah Libresco, PoR (JE '11)
Speaker Naomi Davida Lisan, IP (BR '11)
Vice-President Conor Crawford, IP (CC '12)
Director of Development Adam Stempel, PoL (CC '11)
Treasurer William Shikani, PoR (JE '10)
Director of Campus Relations Jaymin Patel, IP (TD '12)
Floorleader of the Left Marian Homans-Turnbull, Lib (TC '12)
Floorleader of the Right Jeremy Weltmer, PoR (CC '13)

Party Chairs/Chairmen
Liberal Party Kevin Hu (SM '11)
Party of the Left Christopher Pagliarella (BK '12)
Progressive Party Nate Schwalb (ES '12)
Independent Party Meredith Morrison (BR '11)
Conservative Party Jonathan Greco (BK '12)
Tory Party Brooke Willig (BR '11)
Party of the Right Tristyn Bloom (JE '11)

Appointed Officers
Secretary Hanna Morikami, PoR (ES '13)
Teller Madelaine Taft-Ferguson, PoL (DC '13)
Social Chair Yemile Bucay, IP (BR '13)
Webmaster Sandy Zhu, IP (JE '12)
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The Yale Political Union (YPU), a debate society now the largest student organization at Yale University, was founded in 1934 by Professor Alfred Whitney Griswold (1906–1963) (later University President), to enliven the university's political culture of the time. It was modelled on the Cambridge Union Society and Oxford Union. Members of the YPU have reciprocal rights at sister societies in England.1 The Union has at times been the central forum for political discussion and activism at Yale. Its officers over the years have included United States senators John Kerry and David Boren, US Attorney General Edwin Meese, New York governor George Pataki, columnist and author William F. Buckley, and journalist Fareed Zakaria.

The Union is a non-partisan debate society. A speaker moderates weekly debates according to Robert's Rules of Order. The Union's highest ranking officer is the President, elected for a term of one semester, who oversees the Union's daily affairs and provides leadership in any given semester. [1] In late 1961, the responsibilities of the office of President were divided between the offices of President and Speaker.

A prominent figure (e.g., politician, journalist, etc.) is often invited to keynote a Yale Political Union debate. Students then have the opportunity to ask questions of the guest, and then give speeches of their own, either in support or opposition to the resolution. This ability to allow students to interact with relevant political figures is often considered one of the great strengths of the organization.

Contents

Parties

The Union is an umbrella organization that currently contains seven Parties: the Liberal Party (Lib), the Party of the Left (PoL), the Progressive Party (Prog), the Independent Party (IP), the Conservative Party (CP), the Tory Party (Tory), and the Party of the Right (PoR).23 These parties are actually independent debating societies that host their own debates and activities apart from Union activities, though members will come together for weekly Union debates. The Parties are traditionally listed in the order above. [2]

In the past, the Political Union has had other Parties, including a Bull Moose Party, a Constitutional Union Party, and a Labor Party, but not concurrently. The minimum number of parties has been two, the maximum seven, while four is typical. All parties contribute in their unique way to the Union's character.

Though party size and membership varies greatly over the decades, the Independent Party has consistently been the largest party in the Union for a decade, maintaining a voting membership usually between one-third and one-half of the Union total. In recent semesters, the Party of the Left, the Party of the Right, and the Tory Party have each had their turn as the second largest party, usually between half and two-thirds the size of the IP. The other parties have been comparatively smaller but always met the minimum voting requirement (25 voting members).

These Parties have their own political leanings, as their names might suggest, but they are better understood as being distinguished by different styles. For instance, the Parties on the Right tend to have more formal debates that cover philosophical topics. The Parties on the Left tend to have a more casual atmosphere than the Parties on the Right, while still engaging in political dialogue.

The Liberal Party is one of the three founding constituent parties of the Yale Political Union. The party holds discussions rather than debates, and tends to be less formal. The Liberal Party is consistently the left-most in the Union.

The Party of the Left is the newest party of the Union. It was formed in the spring of 2006 by a group of left-leaning students who were looking for more formal philosophical debate on the Left of the Union, emphasizing a synthesis of first principles and policy. PoL debates are more formal than Liberal Party discussions and more serious than the debates of the Progressive Party. PoL debates often concern "the questions that divide the Left."

The Progressive Party defines itself as "debating silly topics using perfect parliamentary procedure." The Progressive Party takes pride in being able to bring a sense of a humor to the Union floor, and student speakers at a debate should be prepared for one of the classic "Prog questions," which often contain a lot of innuendo and can be tricky to answer appropriately.

The Independent Party, covers nearly the entire political spectrum. The Independent Party has been the largest Party in the Union since 2002. The Party debates policy as well as philosophy and is known for its explicit goal and motto: "Hear All Sides".

The Conservative Party is committed to the production of principled and profound leaders. The Party's debates focus on the principles of Western Civilization, and are often highly philosophical. The Conservative Party maintains strong ties with its alumni and is the only Party of the Union with a private debate hall.

The Tory Party is a society of philosophical conservatives, tending toward Burkean traditionalism, an English aesthetic, and "reasoned conservatism." The Tory Party is the only party on the Right that requires its members be conservative.

The Party of the Right was founded in 1952 by members dissatisfied with the lack of true conservatism in the Union. Its members tend to be politically libertarian, while devoting themselves more to philosophy, intellectual history, and culture than to current governmental issues and debates. The Party has been described in a recent Yale Herald article as "at once flamboyant, intellectually elitist, aggressive, mischievously subversive, eccentric, and maniacally eager to challenge anyone and everyone." It is fond of saying: "We care not what you think, only that you think."

History

"This Union can be of undoubted value to nation and to the University, provided it maintains independence and voices the true thoughts of those participating...Honest debates will help in the search for truthful answers." - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1935

Founded in 1934, the Yale Political Union has played a key role on Yale's campus for 75 years. Like most organizations, it has had periods of flourishing, as well as less prosperous spells. Once the only organization devoted to political debate on campus, it remains a unique and high-quality forum for oratory and political dialogue.2

All sides agree that the Union is not as influential as it once was. Members note that this is the result of several factors. Many believe that it is simply one of the effects of Yale's metamorphosis from Old Yale into the vibrant modern Yale of 2008, which has notably included the rise of activism on campus. Eventually, Union debate came to be a combination of a keynote speaker and ensuing student speeches. This push and pull between outside speakers and student debate has characterized the Union for at least thirty years.

The YPU regained strength throughout the 1970s, during which period the Liberal Party was by far the largest, but then it suffered a severe blow shortly after A. Bartlett Giamatti became the Yale President. Giamatti, violating numerous agreements and covenants established with the Union, "repurposed" the YPU building/debate hall. Today, it is used for office space and storage.4

After several years of rebuilding, the Union recovered its numerical strength. This recovery moved into rapid gear during Spring term of 1984 (under the presidency of Fareed Zakaria) when membership tripled to 900 during a term highlighted by a nationally televised debate. By the end of 1986, active membership rolls comprised over 1200 members, nearly 1/4 of the entire student body at Yale, and the YPU successfully launched a Model Congress, a magazine, an annual three-day visit to Washington DC (for meetings with Cabinet Members, Supreme Court Justices, IMF and World Bank heads, foreign Ambassadors and even the Director of the National Gallery of Art), and an on-topic debate team (which sent two union members overseas to the world debate championships). Then, the one-vote failure of an attempt to acquire the much financially stronger Yale International Relations (Model UN) program at Yale in Spring 1987 (which would have made for a political powerhouse on campus), and the earlier 1980's loss of the YPU's dedicated facilities slowed momentum, and membership declined after a poor recruit in the fall of 1988.

In the early 1990s, membership reached its peak in YPU history. It then fell again, as a spurt of new political organizations on campus diverted politically active Yalies.5 Though smaller, the parties were relatively stronger and tighter institutions during this period. Most have remained intimate organizations, though with somewhat larger membership, to the current day.

One of the few enduring YPU spinoff publications, Rumpus Magazine, was founded by members of the Progressive Party in 1992. For the first 3–4 years of its publication, Rumpus remained closely linked to the YPU. One of the more sordid scandals of the period, involving a member who misappropriated the YPU's long-distance phone access number for calls to a racy 1-900 number from his senior single, was broken by Rumpus in the Fall of 1994.

As more and more Yale undergraduate organizations were founded, the YPU had the misfortune of losing its offices under Bingham Hall. It managed to retain its small office on Crown Street, where it currently resides, although the Union has recently begun a capital campaign to raise funds for a new building.4 During its various moves, many irreplaceable historical archives were lost, although the YPU's collection of paraphernalia signed by noteworthy public figures is sizeable. The YPU hit a low point in membership in the late 1990s. The YPU President, an Independent Party member, was impeached in the Fall of 1997, leading to the near collapse of the Independent Party. The effects of this crisis took some time to reverse, though by 2001 the Independent Party was largely restored and began an impressive period of growth. Although membership remains roughly 25% of its last peak in the 1990s, the Political Union is nevertheless the largest undergraduate organization at Yale, with approximately 325 members (as of the end of 2007).

Officers

Union Officers are elected at the end of each semester (except for the Treasurer who holds a year-long term). All Officers are members of the Executive Board of the Union, although not all of the Officers have votes on the Executive Board. There are two primary officers, a Speaker, and a President, and a number of other offices, that have varied over the years, including Vice President(s), Treasurer, and Secretary. The Speaker is the most important officer during the actual periods when the Yale Political Union is in session, and runs the meetings, deciding on points of parliamentary procedure as necessary. The President is the most important officer while the Yale Political Union is not in session, and runs the Executive Board, with primary responsibility for planning the meetings, the seasonal calendar, and the overall strategy of the group.

The Advisory Committee

The recent constitutional amendments passed on April 4, 2006, created a new Advisory Committee to "advise the Executive Board and the President and provide long term planning for the Union." Past Presidents of the Union are automatically nominated for membership, subject to approval by the Executive Board, and there may be up to four other members on the Committee at any one time (subject to nomination by the Chairman of the Committee and approval by the Executive Board). [3] The Senior Sometime President on the Committee is constitutionally designated as the Chairman of the Committee.

Chairmen

Each Party in the Political Union is headed by a Chairman, although the Liberal Party and the Party of the Left use the gender-neutral term 'Chair.' (During the tenure of the Chairman of the Party of the Right, the holder of that office prefers to be referred to as "The Chairman" or "Mr./Mme. Chairman" instead of his or her given name.) All of these Chairmen either serve personally on or send proxies to the Executive Board and the Rules Committee of the Union.

Notable alumni

Former Union President John Kerry
Alumnus William F. Buckley

Notable alumni of the YPU include:

Notable recent guests

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External links

References

  1. ^ "TWO YALE GROUPS TURN TO POLITICS; New Union's Plan to Train an Intelligent Minority for Leadership Is Approved", The New York Times, December 9, 1934.
  2. ^ a b "Can the YPU bring back its glory days?" The Yale Herald, September 9, 2005 Vol. XL, No. 2.
  3. ^ "Party of the Left seeks to leave no leftist behind" The Yale Herald, March 31, 2006 Vol. XLI, No. 10.
  4. ^ a b "YPU begins inquiry into storied past." Yale Daily News, November 29, 2007.
  5. ^ "The Yale Political Scene--left, right and center." The Yale Herald, Freshman Issue, Summer 1998.
  6. ^ http://digital.library.yale.edu/cdm/cliparticle.php?id=DIVL76&CISOOBJECT=22099&CISOROOT=/yale-ydn&CISOPTR=22091&DMSCALE=0&DMTEXT=%22Yale%2520Political%2520Union%22
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World Universities Debating Ranking 2010
1. Sydney (Union), 2. Oxford (Union), 3. Yale (Union), 4. Cambridge (Union), 5. Queensland , 6. Toronto (Club), 7. Monash (Association), 8. Ateneo, 9. UCD (L&H), 10. Alberta (Society), 11. Queen's, 12. Alaska , 13. Harvard, 14.St. Andrews (Society), 15. McGill
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