On the 30th of October 1995 the Utrecht Debating Society (UDS) was founded in the city of Utrecht. The first chair, Bibelotte Duyvensteyn, breathed life into the UDS and led the founding members, Hella Borking, Andreas Ligtvoet and Jelle Peters, who had the honour of calling themselves the first board of UDS.
With help and support from the Erasmus Debating Society, UDS came into existence and began a wonderful time of conviviality, sociability and debating. Learning to debate in a leisurely manner, that’s UDS.
UDS soon established itself within the debating world. UDS won the Dutch Championship twice, the Bonaparte Debate tournament twice, the EDS tournament twice, the Leidsch Open, Veenendaal, the Debate Masters, Oxford IV and last, but far from least, in 2004 UDS became the first non-native association ever to have won the European Debating Championship in the category ‘English as a first language’. In 2022, UDS broke to the semi finals of Dutch Debating League and open final of Tilburg Open.
Over time UDS has become a substantial and notable debating association. What began with Wednesday debate evenings expanded to include a club life with numerous social activities, workshops, lectures and training sessions for the members and external parties, including companies, schools, student associations and non-profit organizations.