Queen’s University revived a tricolour tradition, but with a modern twist.
Queen’s Day — formerly known as University Day — took place Oct. 16 and marked the date in 1841 that Queen’s was granted its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria. Later that year, Queen’s established the date as University Day, which, over the next century, was celebrated on campus with a range of events from track and field contests to concerts to fireworks.
However, the event stopped during the Second World War. It returned briefly in 1991 as the university celebrated its sesquicentennial but ended there.
Fast-forward now to the university’s 178th anniversary and Oct. 16 was once again a day to celebrate — this time as Queen’s Day. The Office of Advancement partnered with the Alma Mater Society (AMS) to call on the Queen’s community to show off their tricolour, with a particular emphasis on social media.
Throughout the day, Queen’s students, alumni, faculty, and staff, posted pictures of themselves and their friends and tagged the Queen’s Alumni social media accounts — Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Posts came from as far away as Germany, Croatia, Portugal, and Machu Picchu in Peru. There was even one photo from space, thanks to NASA astronaut Drew Feustel, PhD’95, DSc'16. He posted a picture to Twitter of himself wearing Queen’s socks during his six-month mission on the International Space Station in 2018.
“There is a great sense of pride within the Queen’s community – students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends,” says Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane. “Queen’s has a very rich history of community engagement and reviving this celebration in the 21st century shows the evolution of our institution and the promise of a bright future.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the Queen’s Gazette.
