The Glasgow University Scottish Nationalist Association (GUSNA) is a student organisation formed in 1927 at the University of Glasgow which supports Scottish independence.
GUSNA was thrown into prominence in the early 1950s when a group of its members (including Ian Hamilton who would later become a well known Queen's Counsel) took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950. This caused a huge scandal among the British establishment and it was not until April 1951 that the stone was found by the authorities.[3][4][5]
GUSNA has, almost since its inception, tried to play an active part in the life of Glasgow University with its members regularly being involved in the Students' Representative Council as well as regularly nominating candidates for the election of the Rectorship of the university.
Notable GUSNA Rectorial candidates of the past have included Robert Cunninghame-Graham and John MacCormick (who with Ian Hamilton as his campaign manager was successful in being elected). More recent candidates have been Ian Hamilton, Alasdair Gray and Alan Bissett; with the most recent being Aamer Anwar, who was elected in 2017.
GUSNA is affiliated to SNP Students, the student wing of the Scottish National Party, and played a leading role in its formation in the 1960s.
