Talking Mules take in tradition in St. Andrews
The Talking Mules lost 2-4 against St. Andrews University’s debate society Thursday, March 9 in the
Lower Parliament Hall in St. Andrews, Scotland, in a debate that included a sword, a giant book and vivid
red robes.
The debate began with St. Andrews debate society’s ceremonial tradition of swearing in a new
president. Members from St. Andrews burst through the door and declared the outgoing president,
Beckie Thomas, an imposter. The new president, Ru Ferguson, was carried in by members of his team
and placed on the president’s seat.
Thomas said public debates at St. Andrews have been going on for hundreds of years, so a lot of
traditions have accrued over time, like the wearing of red robes to indicate class level and major.
“Throughout the debate, they’ll be a number of quirky traditions that we do,” Thomas said. “So the
minutes are read in the style of an impression at the beginning of the debate…we have things like, our
sergeant carries a sword to protect the president at all times.”
Ferguson said a plague struck Edinburgh in the seventeenth century, forcing the Scottish Parliamentary
chamber to meet in the Lower Parliament Hall until the plague subsided.
“The debating society…is the oldest of its kind within the UK, so it was set up in 1793-19794,”Ferguson
said. “And so it’s technically older than the Oxford Union and the Cambridge Union… so it’s the oldest
debating society in the English speaking world.”
After Ferguson was sworn in as the next president, both universities debated the idea of regretting
monogamy.
Samantha Callaway said the debate was different than debates in America.
“It was a lot more…. traditional and ceremonial, which I thought was kind of neat seeing the different
perspectives of that within one country in and of itself,” Callaway said. “I think considering going into a
debate with a topic such as monogamous relationships, it was already a toss up in being a debate over
something not particularly often debated with analysis and critical implications, so the coaches and
adjudicators had to do what they had to do in order to get us the best possible outcome,” Callaway said.
Samuel Eames said the results weren’t as good as they were at the debate they had in Glasgow.
“We ended up taking the fourth position and the second position,” Eames said. “So as far as the overall
distribution of points, St Andrews took four points and we took two points. So (I’m) not like thrilled with
the results but hopefully we’ll have a chance to do better in Edinburgh tomorrow.”
The next debate will be Sunday, March 12, against Edinburgh Union in Edinburgh, Scotland.
