Union-HuffPo Link Is All-Go

The Union has landed a plush blogging spot on prestigious news website The Huffington Post.

The weekly posts will tackle different education themes and give people an insight into the world of The Cambridge Union Society.

The first column, which was published yesterday, focuses on the growing presence of online debate. The Union already makes use of online voting systems, and controversially launched an online catch-up player for anyone to watch past events – regardless of membership – last term.

Union President Calum MacDonald wrote the first entry, which features on the new Universities and Education section of the site. His name appears alongside figures like NUS President Liam Burns and Shadow Education Secretary and Cantab Andy Burnham.

The Union’s contribution on the new Universities page (and a rather apt picture for HuffPo’s Top Universities Guide)

McDonald told The Tab the collaboration is: “a great opportunity to give members a wider platform, both for issues relevant both to the Union and them – it will hopefully help the Union become more engaging and reach a wider audience.”

He also emphasised that it won’t just be Union bigwigs blogging: “I definitely don’t plan on writing each one. I don’t just want the blog to be a place for Union press releases either. In fact, the idea is to have lots of different Union members – regardless of committee or student paper experience – contributing.”

The Huffington Post is an expanding news outlet with UK, Canadian and US editions, drawing on over 9,000 bloggers. Alongside a core of key, paid contributors, it invites experts and celebrities to blog their thoughts on the site. The UK edition launched in July, and had already attracted big names like Nick Clegg and the Blairs.

Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post, is a Girton alumna and was herself president of the Cambridge Union Society in 1971, which she cited as a transformative experience in her introduction to the UK edition.

“I’m excited about the launch of HuffPost UK Universities & Education, both because I went to university in England, and because HuffPost College [the US equivalent] has been an incredible success – creating a dynamic platform for partnerships with 130 US college newspapers, and a place to find great content provided by students, professors, and university presidents,” she said.