Founded in 1934, the Yale Political Union is the oldest and largest collegiate debate society in America. It is the largest student group on Yale’s campus.

Each week, we invite renowned guests to engage and challenge our members, whether it's over tea, at dinner, or a in formal debate. The Union is a non-partisan debate forum dedicated to showcasing voices from across the political spectrum, emphasizing diversity of ideology and background. We've had countless figureheads and thought leaders join us for debate, including Ronald Reagan, Joe Biden, Lady Bird Johnson, Milton Friedman, Jimmy Carter, George Stephanopoulos, Margaret Mead, Noam Chomsky, George McGovern, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Walter Cronkite, among others.

Our members have gone on to become famed legal scholars, attorneys general, governors, senators, federal circuit justices, and secretaries of state.

For over eighty years, the Union’s purpose has been the encouragement of spirited and substantive debate on matters of public interest. Modeled after the Oxford and Cambridge Unions, we operate like any legislative body, using parliamentary procedure to express passionate disagreement with civility.