History of the King’s Students’ Union
by Jonathan Borden, EMSP ’10
Archives Assistant
University of King’s College Archives
Students have operated on a collective basis from the early years of the University of King's College, which was founded in 1789 in Windsor, Nova Scotia. In 1806, students presented a memorial to the Board of Governors soliciting assistance in meeting their living expenses, obliged, as they then were, to provide their own servants. This was one of many petitions drawn up over the years. Other student organizations were formed for furthering particular objectives at King's: the Quintilian, a debating society, was founded in 1845, and the Haliburton, a literary society, was founded in 1884. Both continue today with financial support from the KSU.
King’s students first organized themselves into a cohesive unit on October 10, 1890, in Commons Hall on the Windsor campus, to review the accounts of the Reading Room Association and elect officers for the Reading Room Association Committee. Commons Hall was King's dining room, while the Reading Room was a popular student hang-out.
The students met again two weeks later to review and approve a set of seven by-laws; they met the following month to draw up a petition to the Board of Governors to alter the Statutes to allow students to be out after midnight. This involvement of King's students, both in their representation to the administration as well as the management of the services and activities they collectively enjoyed, has continued in the KSU’s presence on the Board of Governors and its management of the Wardroom.
Other activities included meetings at which committees were formed to handle student issues and interests, such as student justice and discipline. A predecessor of Campus Security was a group of elected graduate students who collected inebriated underclassmen from the bars of Windsor each evening, all students being garbed in academic gowns and mortarboards, pursuant to College policy.
Prior to its consolidation and renaming, the KSU was called the Student Body. It was headed by a single executive member, known as the Senior Student, who was selected by the University President from a list of three candidates. This method relied largely on reputation: the list of candidates, compiled by all King’s students, was ranked in order of popularity, and the top name almost always became the Senior Student. The Senior Student’s role was to represent opinions and concerns of King’s students and report them to University administrators. The Senior Student, working with the Student Body, often imposed discipline on campus.
Almost four decades after female students were admitted to King’s in 1893, the Co-Ed Council was formed in 1932 to represent the interests of female students. (The Co-Ed Council should not be confused with the Co-Ed Club, also called the Co-Ed Association, that was active from 1913-1967.) In 1965, the Co-Ed Council merged with the Men’s Students’ Council to form the Student Body of King’s College, as informally referred to as “the Students.”
After 79 years of existence, the Student Body incorporated under the Societies Act of Nova Scotia on February 21, 1969, as the Society of the Students’ Union of the University of King’s College (“KSU”).
In its early days, the Student Body was governed by a brief set of by-laws drawn up by students in 1890. The first formal constitution, that of the Co-Ed Student Body, was adopted in 1953. There have been at least six revised constitutions since then, the most recent in 2006. The seven articles in the first document seem modest in comparison with the 80 in the 2006 Constitution.
The title of the chief officer changed over the decades, from Senior or Senior Student in 1890, to Men’s Senior Student and Senior Co-Ed (simultaneous offices for each gender) in 1932, to the current title of President in 1965.
The KSU gained representation on the University's Board of Governors through the King’s College Act, S.N.S. 1998, c.44, ss. 6(2)(l) and (m), which provide that the Board of Governors includes the President of the Student Union and two student representatives elected by the Student Union.
For nearly 120 years, the KSU and its predecessors have been the voice of King’s students. While its mandate and influence on the University administration have evolved in that time, the King’s Students’ Union has relied on its enduring strength – a knowledge of student life and its demands – to ensure, nurture, and improve a sense of community among King’s students.
– September 19, 2008
Jonathan Borden, a third-year student in the Early Modern Studies Programme, has worked in the University Archives since his arrival on campus in 2006. He was one of two King’s students who processed the voluminous archival records of the KSU in 2007 and aided in the writing of its first history.