What seems to not have been mentioned is that historically the Oxford Union has been dedicated to freedom of speech, to the point of being called communist sympathisers by the 1930s right wing press.
Maybe the bursar should remember what happened to Randolph Churchill when he tried to have that debate removed from the record.
What is generally forgotten (but arguably more significant as an example of the Union’s commitment to freedom of speech) is that several prominent Union members (including Randolph Churchill) tried to expunge this motion and the result of the debate from the Union’s minute book. This attempt was roundly defeated — in a meeting far better attended than the original debate. Sir Edward Heath records in his memoirs that Randolph Churchill was then chased around Oxford by undergraduates who intended to debag him (i.e. humiliate him by removing his trousers), and was then fined by the police for being illegally parked.
