GUSNA is important historically as it predated many pro-independence organisations including the Scottish National Party itself.
[1] One of the three founding members of GUSNA was John MacCormick who had previously been involved in the Glasgow University Labour Club.
[2] 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.
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).