Queen鈥檚 University revived a tricolour tradition, but with a modern twist.
Queen鈥檚 Day 鈥 formerly known as University Day 鈥 took place Oct. 16 and marked the date in 1841 that Queen鈥檚 was granted its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria. Later that year, Queen鈥檚 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鈥檚 178th anniversary and Oct. 16 was once again a day to celebrate 鈥 this time as Queen鈥檚 Day. The Office of Advancement partnered with the Alma Mater Society (AMS) to call on the Queen鈥檚 community to show off their tricolour, with a particular emphasis on social media.
Throughout the day, Queen鈥檚 students, alumni, faculty, and staff, posted pictures of themselves and their friends and tagged the Queen鈥檚 Alumni social media accounts 鈥 , , and . 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鈥95, DSc'16. He posted a of himself wearing Queen鈥檚 socks during his six-month mission on the International Space Station in 2018.
鈥淭here is a great sense of pride within the Queen鈥檚 community 鈥 students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends,鈥 says Principal and Vice-Chancellor Patrick Deane. 鈥淨ueen鈥檚 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.鈥
A version of this story originally appeared in the Queen鈥檚 Gazette.
