The Otago University Debating Society (OUDS) was established in June 1878 and is the oldest society of the University of Otago, the first university to be founded in New Zealand. Echoing trends in Australia and the United States (the University of Sydney Union was founded in 1874 and Harvard's debating union in 1880), in the latter decades of the nineteenth century debating was seen as an important talent for New Zealand's thought leaders, and was one of the three sports in the New Zealand University Games from 1902.
Prominent members of OUDS during its early years included Alfred Richard Barclay (one of its first vice-presidents), William Downie Stewart, Jr. (1898–1900), Harry Bedford (1900–1901) who as a 25-year-old policial novice entered Parliament in 1902 with the highest individual vote that had ever been recorded in New Zealand, John Callan (who won the Joynt Challenge Scroll in 1905) and Oswald Chettle Mazengarb (c.1910).
OUDS is one of the five societies in the New Zealand Universities Debating Council, through which members compete in domestic, national and international tournaments. In conjunction with members from the Otago University Rugby Club, OUDS members formed the Otago University Students' Association (OUSA) in 1890 because it felt that university students needed strong representation. OUSA has become a strong advocate for student rights.
Read more about Otago University Debating Society: OUDS Alumni, Media Profile and Public Debates
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