Cambridge Union

The Cambridge Union Society

The Cambridge Union Society's badge
Formation	1815
Type	Student debating union
Headquarters	Cambridge, England
Location	9A Bridge Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB2 1UB
President	Neha Pauly, Christ's
Chair of Trustees	Mohamed A. El-Erian
Affiliations	World Universities Debating Council
Website	www.cus.org

The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. The society was founded in 1815 and is the second oldest continuously running debating society in the world, behind the University of St Andrews Union Debating Society.^[1][2] Additionally, the Cambridge Union has served as a model for the foundation of similar societies at several other prominent universities, including the Oxford Union and the Yale Political Union. The Union is a private society with membership open to all students of Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin University. The Cambridge Union is a registered charity and is completely separate from the Cambridge University Students' Union.

The Cambridge Union has a long and extensive tradition of hosting prominent figures from all areas of public life in its chamber, both state- and international-based, including the Dalai Lama, President Ronald Reagan, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, as well as comedian Stephen Fry.^[3] Previous presidents of the Cambridge Union have included author Arianna Huffington and economist John Maynard Keynes.