Levana Society

This society, named after the Roman goddess of the rising sun, was the official association of women students at Queen's from its founding in 1888 until 1967, when it merged with the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society (ASUS). Levana was founded at a time when women still felt themselves to be on unofficial probation at the university and provided them with a refuge from the often-critical eyes of male students.

Levana members held meetings in the Red Room of Kingston Hall, organized lectures and tea dances, and sponsored debates on topical questions. The Society promoted the general interests of women at Queen's and occasionally entered the political arena - as it did in 1933, for example, when it formed the victorious Arts-Levana-Theology coalition in the Alma Mater Society election to defeat students who wanted to permit fraternities and sororities at the university.

As women gained a more equal footing at the university, the need for an overarching women's society diminished until its members finally decided to merge with ASUS - to which the majority of its members already belonged - since there were few women outside of the Faculty of Arts and Science.