DUSA is the legal representative and students' union for matriculated students of the University of Dundee. The Students' Association was founded by the merger in 1969 of the Students' Union and students' representative council (SRC). Both bodies had existed since the University of Dundee's period as a college of the University of St Andrews. The Dundee Students' Union was mainly responsible for meeting the physical needs of students, and ran a bar, shop, and launderette. There were two restaurants: Old Dines, located in the Ellenbank building, and New Dines, built in 1963. The SRC handled other aspects of student welfare, including negotiation with the University authorities (from 1967) and with the college authorities during Dindee's period as a constituent of the University of St Andrews.
The Union gained its first accommodation by the renting of the Ellenbank building in 1905 with £4,000 raised from the University College Bazaar - a fairly regular event of official speakers, entertainments, live music, comedy and stalls - held in October 1903. The building itself had been constructed as a villa in 1813 and had been acquired by the University College in more recent years.
Ellenbank was initially separated by levels, providing separate rooms for the male and female students - with the ladies entering up a flight of stairs to the rear and the gentlemen having sole use of the "handsome" entrance hall. Despite the segregation, this was probably the first Students' Union in the United Kingdom to admit both men and women to the same association and also to allow them use of the same building. Ellenbank later underwent extensive renovation in the 1920s, and was connected to the neighbouring (and similar) Union Mount building, which housed the College library. By 1969, it was decided that new and larger premises were necessary and a new building was completed in 1974. New Dines was demolished in 1986.
DUSA is affiliated to the Coalition of Higher Education Students in Scotland (CHESS) and the National Postgraduate Committee. Unlike most students unions in the United Kingdom, DUSA is not affiliated to the National Union of Students.
DUSA was part of the Scottish Union of Students which became part of the NUS in 1971. But in 1980 DUSA disaffiliated from the NUS, only to re-affiliate again in the mid-1980s until 1994 when it left once more.[5][6] This stance was confirmed in a referendum held on 1 and 2 April 2010 in which 1,795 students voted against and 467 voted for NUS affiliation.[7]
The Union has a collective purchasing and co-ordination agreement with a number of other Scottish students bodies through the Northern Services group.[8]
The Sports Union is affiliated to British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS). Unlike in many universities, the Sports Union is a separate body from the main Students' Union, instead, it is officially part of the University's structure. DUSA and the Sports Union collaborate on many projects, and the Sports Union Executive officers used to be based in the main DUSA building. They are now based in the University's Institute of Sport and Exercise.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dundee_University_Students%27_Association accessed 6/5/2022
