Every academic year sees a hearty competition between various student clubs vying to recruit freshmen, and among them, the time-honoured university debating societies have proven to be especially successful. This holds true even for “The Hist” — Trinity’s College Historical Society, that has been in existence for over two and a half centuries.
One notable incident occurred in March 1970, when the society was addressed by Senator Ted Kennedy for its Bicentennial celebration. Speaking on the theme of Edmund Burke, Kennedy acclaimed Burke’s principles of “decency, tolerance, reason, and reverence for freedom.” He maintained that Western nations would not evolve via irrational acts of violence and disruption. Kennedy acknowledged “The Hist” for enduring 200 years filled with controversy and discourse, featuring eminent debaters like Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet.
Nonetheless, Kennedy’s speech faced interruptions. An audience member vociferously proclaimed “Down with US imperialism” and went on to glorify Mao Tse-Tung. Kennedy replied, perhaps with the fans of Mao, Chinese’s communist dictator, in mind that those who are excessively preoccupied with revolution risk forgetting reform.
His arrival at the Examination Hall was discreet, avoiding a gathering of around 1,000 by using a back door. However, his departure was hindered by irate protestors led by Maoists, or as they referred themselves to in Trinity, the Internationalists.
Just a year prior, these same Internationalists and other left-wing Trinity students prevented education minister, Brian Lenihan, from delivering a talk on higher education funding. His speech was persistently undermined by shouts to the point of being inaudible, and he was accused of being an “imperialist stooge”. Lenihan had to leave by leaping from a six-foot window ledge as the uproar resulted in terminating the meeting.
The institute extended its apologies for the upsetting episode; a case which entailed violation of freedom of speech. As we delve into late 1960s, we witness a wave of students from Berlin to Berkeley, demanding comprehensive transformations. Majorly, they targeted the White House, particularly over its stance on the Vietnam war and in the proximity, the biased unionist administration in Northern region.
Even amidst such liberalism, Trinity College maintained a discriminative attitude towards women, denying them membership to “The Hist”. In the light of this oppression, female students initiated protests to earn their rightful place in the society. A noteworthy meeting, held in November 1968, met its end in a less civilised and chaotic manner, with fists transplanting words, during a filibustering aimed at lifting this females ban. Subsequently, in the ensuing month, the society revisited the issue, amidst another energetic debate – physical blows being thrown – and managed to secure a minor majority for admitting female students.
UCD demonstrated a more progressive stance than Trinity on matters pertaining to women debaters, with Mary Finlay, a maths and maths physics scholar, elected as auditor of “L&H” in 1970. Beforehand that same year at UCD, a civil rights debate sparked controversy when Unionist MP John Taylor was met with a hostile atmosphere. His pleas for freedom of speech were met with consistent catcalling and uproar from Republican Club members, who openly denied his right to free speech on account of their northern republican companions who experienced imprisonment for expressing their beliefs. Taylor defended a ban on the republican society in Queen’s University, arguing that it was a proxy for the unlawful IRA. Despite escaping the event, hosted by agricultural science students, unscathed, he was subject to an assault of rotten eggs and flour.
The Internationalist group, for a brief period, took to Trinity College. Journalist Nell McCafferty subsequently commented on their Little Red Book becoming a rage among her leftist media associates.
Upon attempting to spread ‘Chairman Mao’s’ philosophies beyond Dublin, their efforts were met with fierce opposition. The dress rehearsal to Kennedy’s visit saw their bookshop in Limerick fall victim to a violent shooting as two bullets were discharged from a passing vehicle, piercing the window of their vibrant, scarlet establishment.
Subsequent weeks saw the Cork-based “commie” bookstore under the siege of a considerable crowd, whose chant for books wasn’t driven by a thirst for knowledge. Assaults on a minimum of two Maoists ensued and effigies of Mao were set aflame.
Attending Kennedy’s bicentenary speech, John Hume considered the sentiments Kennedy expressed regarding tolerance as having potential applicability to the crisis in Northern Ireland. Kennedy discovered in Hume the first Irish leader who grasped the necessity of engaging American politicians in Irish issues.
Kennedy’s lengthy political career in the U.S Senate saw him mature into one of Hume’s key allies in pushing towards a diplomatic resolution in the North, possibly inspired by Edmund Burke.