Short History of the Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University

The Alma Mater Society is the oldest student association in Canada. Growing out of the old Dialectic Society, a debating group founded in 1843, the AMS was established as the central student government at Queen’s in 1858. John Machar, who was the son of a former Queen’s principal and later appointed as a lecturer in English history, is thought to have been the founder of the AMS. The first recorded meeting of the society was held on February 26, 1859. The original objects of the society were the maintenance and defence of students’ rights, the interchange of friendly intercourse, the promotion and encouragement of learning, and the furtherance of the general interests of the University.

Until virtually the end of the 19th century the AMS remained essentially a debating society, conducting weekly meetings where essays were read and debates took place after any official business was conducted. Nevertheless, during the 1860s the AMS was responsible for securing a study week prior to examinations and for securing some space for athletic activity. In 1877, a new constitution was created which reflected the importance to the AMS of preserving the attachment of the alumni to the University and maintaining the bond between all members of the University, students and ex-students. Interestingly, during this period the AMS president was required to be either a Queen’s graduate or a professor, and at least one of the three vice-presidents had to live outside of Kingston. In fact it was not until 1920 that the AMS President could be a student, provided they were in their final year of study. In 1948, the constitution was amended to require the AMS President to be a student.

The society gradually became more controlled by students and increasingly focussed on student issues. In 1898, the society was officially incorporated as the “Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University “. The amended constitution underscored the shift toward the on-campus constituency and away from the 1877 emphasis on alumni. The AMS primary purposes were now the cultivation of literary, scientific and musical tastes, the encouragement of athletics, and the publication of the Journal. The Alma Mater Society had now assumed its modern role of having full responsibility for administering and financing the large number of special interest student societies that had emerged on campus, and for representing the views of students to the Senate.

One of the most important developments in AMS history also transpired in 1898. This was the official delegation of responsibility for non-academic discipline to the Alma Mater Society and its new “AMS Court”(now known as the AMS Judicial Committee). Previously this responsibility was held by the Senate under the Royal Charter that created Queen’s, although informally, the AMS had been delegated increasing jurisdiction in this area throughout the 1880s. Later, in 1936-37, the AMS introduced a system of student constables to maintain order at student functions. Both of these essential elements in student life remain to this day.

The 1930s brought two more highly significant developments. Beginning in the early 1920s there was persistent discussion surrounding the introduction to Queen’s of the fraternities and sororities that were so popular in the United States. The opposition to them was strong, however, and was based primarily on the concern that loyalty to fraternities would diminish loyalty to Queen’s and that the very nature of fraternities and the exclusivity of their membership might jeopardize Queen’s democratic traditions. The AMS was in the forefront of these discussions and in 1930-31 revised its constitution to ban fraternities. This decision was overturned at a mass meeting in 1933 but then reinstated at yet another mass meeting in 1934. Respecting students’ right to self-government, the Senate had remained relatively quiet throughout the issue. But in late 1934, in response to the strong AMS stance, passed a still-in-effect motion “forbidding students who register at the University to form or to become members of any chapter of any externally-affiliated fraternity or sorority at or near Kingston.”

In 1936-37, the AMS introduced the AMS Colour Night as an annual function that combined a dance and dinner with the presentation of awards for achievement in non-academic fields. This was the origin of the Tricolour Society, an honour society of students judged by their peers to have made an extraordinary contribution to campus life. The Tricolour Society is comprised of recipients of what is now known as the Agnes Benedickson Tricolour Award, the highest tribute that can be paid to a student for valuable and distinguished service to the University in non-athletic, extra-curricular activities.

Throughout most of the 1900s, the AMS operated primarily as an amalgam of standing and ad hoc committees but in response to the rapidly expanding scope of its activities it underwent a major restructuring in 1969. It was at this time that the commission system was created. The original commissions, designed to carve up AMS activity into distinct spheres, were Education, Services, Campus Activities, Judicial, External Affairs, and Budget and Finance. The commissioners, along with the AMS president and vice-president, comprised what was then known as Inner Council which carried out the basic day-to-day work of the AMS. The AMS legislative body, comprised of representatives from all the faculty societies, was known as Outer Council. Inner Council and Outer Council are now respectively known as Council and Assembly. The commission system continues to thrive today, albeit with many modifications over the past 30 years.

Chief among these modifications were the creation of the Academics Affairs Commission in 1991 in order to house responsibility for both learning environment issues and external funding/tuition/student aid lobbying issues in one place; and the creation of the Municipal Affairs Commission in 1994 in recognition of the important and diverse nature of student interaction with the Kingston community. In the early 1990s, the focus of the Education Commission gradually shifted away from academic issues and towards a wide range social justice and equity issues. This proved to be a lasting change and that commission has been renamed ‘Social Issues’.

In the mid-1970s, the AMS began establishing and operating significant commercial services on behalf of its members. Alfie’s Pub (originally known as the Underground) was created in 1976 and constituted a substantial expansion and relocation of the first AMS-run pub, founded in 1969. Alfie’s was soon followed by the Queen’s Pub (then the McLaughlin Room) in 1978. Additional major new services followed with the creation of the Publishing and Copy Centre and Walkhome in 1988; the Used Book Store in 1994; and The Common Ground eatery/nightspot in 2000. In response to longstanding requests from The Queen’s Journal for new and separate space, in 1990-91 the AMS purchased a house on Earl Street in which to relocate the newspaper’s operations.

Throughout its evolution and growth, the AMS has maintained its longstanding commitment to traditional activities central to student life by facilitating Orientation and Homecoming; overseeing Model Parliament since 1946 and Model United Nations since 1987; and by providing space and resources for hundreds of student clubs.

In 1969, the AMS also created a corporation without share capital under the name of “Alma Mater Society of Queen’s University Incorporated”. One of the most significant structural developments over the past two decades has been the evolution of the role of the AMS Board of Directors in overseeing AMS services and managing the financial affairs of the corporation.

AMS participation in federal external student federations has generally been quite limited. It has never been a member of the current Canadian Federation of Students, established in 1981, nor its predecessor, the National Union of Students that operated from 1972 to 1981. The AMS did, however, become a member of the Association of Student Councils, a not-for-profit organization incorporated in 1973 to provide discount travel. Provincially, the AMS became a member of the Ontario Federation of Students in 1974 and maintained that membership until 1992 when Queen’s students voted to leave. The AMS subsequently became a founding member of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, which it left in 1995 only to rejoin in 2000 as an associate member.

Since its inception, the AMS had represented all students attending Queen’s University. However, that changed in 1981 when the Graduate Students’ Society, an AMS member society formed in 1962, voted by referendum to secede from the AMS. This secession was extremely amicable and grew out of a gradual, long-term, mutual recognition by the AMS and GSS that graduate students should have separate and autonomous representation. Subsequently, the AMS has seen both the Theological Society and the Law Students’ Society depart for membership within the GSS, known now as the Society for Graduate and Professional Students(SGPS). In 2006, the Rehabilitation Therapy Society departed for the SGPS when that program evolved into a graduate program.

Currently the AMS represents roughly 13,800 students. It has grown to operate a wide range of services and five commissions with 500 employees and over 1,000 volunteers. The Alma Mater Society remains true to its roots, working diligently on enhancing both the academic and extra-curricular experience of its members while fostering important connections with the surrounding community.