Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Scottish parliament member speaks at U. Oregon
By Annie Grossarth
Oregon Daily Emerald (U. Oregon)
10/11/2007

(U-WIRE) EUGENE, Ore. — Brian Adam, the chief whip for the Scottish National Party, visited the University of Oregon Tuesday.

Adam's visit was sponsored by several campus programs, including the Office of International Affairs and IE3, a program that gives students the opportunity to intern within different parts of the European government.

Adam was born in northeast Scotland. He attended Aberdeen University, majoring in clinical pharmacology. After graduating in 1970, he went into biochemistry. It wasn't until the 1980s that his career went in the direction of politics. By the late 1980s, he was a local counselor within the Scottish government. By 1999, he became a regional representative, and in 2003, was elected to the Scottish Parliament.

Currently, Adam is the chief whip of the Scottish National Party. His duties include addressing important issues, leading his party, and making sure the agenda of the party is being kept as planned by way of votes within the party.

His speech focused on Scotland's history and government, which he described as a "very dynamic, very lively setting."

Adam said the Scottish government currently consists of five parties, two being nationalist parties, the Scottish National Party and the Green party. There are three unionist parties, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Each of these has seats in Parliament, though the National Party holds the largest number of seats, and the second by one seat being the Labour Party.

Adam also took a humorous approach to his speech, showing the "stereotypical Scot" as a Simpsons-esque drawing of a man with red hair wearing a kilt. After mentioning that the region in which he lives, Aberdeen, is the oil capital of Europe he added, "Please, don't invade us!"

There were several students in attendance at the event.

James Andrews, a freshman at the University, said, "I learned a lot about the Scottish government and culture. He was very insightful, and overall, it was an enriching experience."

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