Auditor’s Welcome

Welcome to Trinity!

As the world’s oldest and Trinity’s largest student society, the Hist can be a great way to meet new people, try something new, and have a lot of fun doing it!

Auditors have been answering the question “What is the Hist” for 254 years now, and they always give a slightly different answer. The truth is that the Hist is something slightly different for everyone, but across all of these different areas and activities, the Hist is always first and foremost a community of students where people make lifelong friends and have extraordinary experiences.

The Hist truly does have something for everyone. We try our hand in all things discourse and debate related, but we also do a lot more than that.

Our weekly Chamber Debates are our flagship event, taking place every Wednesday evening, with motions on every topic imaginable and an array of incredible guest speakers. We run a huge number of other events which also aim to promote discourse, like panel discussions and addresses. Such events feature distinguished guest speakers including celebrities, politicians, diplomats, activists and much more. This semester, you can look forward to events featuring guests like Hugh Grant, Jacinda Ardern, and Rory Stewart.

The Hist excels at competitive debating - we will be sending students to competitions all over the world this year, everywhere from UCD to Vietnam. Don’t worry if you have never debated before, we run training sessions and competitions just for Trinity students all the time so it’s never too late to get started. There is also plenty of opportunities to help organise debating competitions for secondary school students across Ireland with our Librarian department.

If arguing isn’t your thing, the Robinson Subcommittee hosts a whole range of events aimed at promoting discourse in a more relaxed environment. The Hist also runs a variety of social events which range from wholesome coffee mornings to karaoke club nights to our epic annual ball! Our wonderful Committee and Subcommittees always have a new project on the go so this list is definitely not exhaustive.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on in the Hist which can be a bit overwhelming, but don’t worry, there are a few great places to get started that will help you settle in! Our Chamber Debates are our flagship event. The debate starts at 7:30pm every Wednesday and is followed by free wine and snacks and then afters in a local pub so this is a great place to meet people. We also have two debating competitions this semester, Grattan’s and Harney's, which can be a great way to try debating and make new friends! Make sure to follow us on Instagram and read our weekly emails as this is the best way to stay in the know about what events are happening when.

The Graduates’ Memorial Building (GMB) is the Hist’s home on campus and where our events are usually held. Some of our Committee is usually hanging about in the Hist Committee or Conversation Room so do pop by and say hello to us!

I’ll sign off here, but I’m looking forward to meeting you soon at one of our many events, and I hope that the Hist can be as wonderful a place for you during your time at Trinity as it has been for me during mine! Don’t ever be afraid to reach out to me about anything - if you have an idea for an event, if there is something you think we could be doing better, or if you’d just like to chat, I would be thrilled to hear from you so pop into the GMB, shoot me an email, or come say hi to me at an event <3

See you soon!