President’s Welcome - Ludivine Rebet
Taking up the role of President in March was intimidating, to say the least. Over the past five centuries the world’s pre-eminent thinkers, innovators and influencers have spoken, debated and challenged minds at the University Philosophical Society. The Phil has recorded the presence of remarkable members including Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett. We have welcomed an even greater number of exceptional individuals to speak in our chamber, from Winston Churchill to Alexis de Tocqueville and in more recent decades Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates David Trimble and John Hume.
It felt like an gargantuan task to take responsibility for a society boasting 10,000 members, managing a building dating back to 1902, overseeing the visits of world renowned guests, controlling a generous and healthy budget as well as maintaining the Phil’s reputation as an integral part of Trinity’s social life and also facilitating discourse through our debates and paper-readings. Then I was reminded that this precise thing is the beauty of the society. Year in and year out a bunch of twenty something year old friends are trusted to run an organisation which is much bigger than they are, and so meaningful to so many people. And every year we pull it off! Insofar as the guest-work goes, this side of term has been fruitful. We have already hosted British actor Steve Coogan, award winning director Baz Luhrmann, Apple CEO Tim Cook, the first female director of CERN Fabiola Gianotti, hat designer Philip Treacy, the band Snow Patrol and six further Honorary Patrons. Next term we are expecting just as many with guests including CEO of Pepsi Indra Nooyi, Greece’s ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, performance artist Marina Abramovic, author Margaret Atwood and many more confirmed. I am making the most of my sabbatical year to expand the Phil’s reach, and capitalise on some of the wonderful relationships we have built with other societies over the years. We hosted a hugely successful ‘University Challenge: An Inter-societies edition’ quiz in November which brought over 40 different societies into the GMB for a fun evening exercising healthy rivalries. In February we are running a three day festival with Players to celebrate the 1916 rising in a fresh, accessible and creative way. We are also working with the Students Union in March on Trinity’s first Activism Festival, encouraging students to ‘turn theory into action’ - a motto which has the potential to motivate many debaters! Last year’s President, Sarah Mortell, created the ‘Eliz Women’s Speaker Series’ to promote the involvement of women in public life and to honour the Elizabethan Society, the all-female debating society which existed in Trinity until 1981 before it merged with The Phil. This year, we have launched an ‘Equality and Diversity Series’ to raise awareness around issues racial discrimination, social inequality and LGBT rights. Additionally, The Phil is expanding its outreach initiatives, continuing to build on its relationship with Trinity Access Programme and running specific public speaking workshops for students who came to Trinity through the TAP programmes.
I am very hopeful that this 331st session of the Phil is working towards achieving a fair balance of respect for tradition and those who came before us, as well as continuing to look forward, innovating, and never forgetting to have fun and embrace the present moment. I look forward to your reading more about all of that in this magazine!
Guests of the 331st Session Steve Coogan is an english actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, writer, and producer. Best known for roles as Alan Partridge as well as in Philomena, Hamlet 2 or the Night at the Museum movies with Ben Stiller. Dame Evelyn Glennie DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist who has also been deaf since the age of 12! She is one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015 which is widely regarded as the foremost musical honour. Baz Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter and producer. His best known films are Strictly Ballroom (1992), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Moulin Rouge (2001), Australia (2008) and more recently The Great Gatsby (2013). Ex-Phil President and founder of Websummit Paddy Cosgrave with founder of Hailo and Verify, Jay Bregman. Pete Wentz, is an American musician best known for being the bassist, primary lyricist and backing vocalist for the American rock band Fall Out Boy. Weird Al is an American singer, songwriter, parodist, record producer, satirist, actor, music video director, film producer, and author. His works have earned him four Grammy Awards and a further 11 nominations, four gold records and six platinum records in the United States. In addition to recording his albums, Weird Al wrote and starred in the film UHF (1989) and The Weird Al Show (1997). Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor is widely regarded as the best darts player of all time. He has won over 200 professional tournaments which include 83 major titles and a record 16 World Championships. No darts player in the world has a winning record in matches against him. Fabiola Gianotti is an Italian particle physicist. She has been selected by CERN Council as the Organization’s next Director-General and she will be the first woman to hold this position. Great to see such a successful woman in the field of science! Ed Catmull is a computer scientist, President of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios. Tim Cook served as executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations, and was chief operating officer until he was named CEO of Apple in 2011.