STAR POWER: The Political Union brought speakers such as Hubert Humphrey to campus. Stanford News Service

In 1953, the nation was in the throes of the McCarthy era, a time when free speech and academic independence were being questioned. The climate did not bode well for those trying to bring political speakers and debate to the University. At the time, Stanford prohibited student political groups from meeting on campus. In the face of such constraints, however, a student-faculty committee conceived the idea of a political union, a student-run organization to foster political debate. Its purpose would be educational—to stimulate interest in current affairs. Stanford President J.E. Wallace Sterling encouraged the idea, citing the benefits of the political unions at Oxford and Yale.

In the fall of 1953, the Stanford Political Union was approved by the ASSU’s executive committee and the Board of Trustees. During that first year, more than 150 students registered to participate in caucuses representing independents, Democrats and Republicans. Over the years, political figures such as Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Sen. William Knowland, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, California Gov. Goodwin Knight and French Premier François Mitterand were invited to speak on campus. The meetings’ formats varied, but typically the speakers discussed particular topics, followed by a question period and an open debate among the students from each caucus. The Political Union took no vote nor declared any winner on the issues.

The Stanford Political Union was replaced in the early 1970s by other student political organizations. But it started a tradition, in keeping with the University motto, to have a place where “the wind of freedom blows.” Along with many other students, I helped start that tradition.