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On March 5, members of the Queen’s community gathered inside Ban Righ Hall to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the storied women’s residence standing at the corner of University Avenue and Queen’s Crescent.  

Yellow flowers were prevalent, just as they were in the fall of 1925 when the Viscountess Byng of Vimy, the wife of the Governor General, officially opened the building.

Also like in 1925, Ban Righ residents and supporters gathered to pay tribute to those who have made the home possible.  

One of them was Diane McKenzie, BNSc’64, MPA’92, who lived in a single room on the second floor of Ban Righ Hall in 1959. She later served on the Ban Righ Board and the Alumnae Association until it amalgamated with the Alumni Association in 1992 and became the Queen’s Women’s Association.

As McKenzie listened to Queen’s Chancellor Shelagh Rogers and others speak about Ban Righ’s importance to women at Queen’s just three days before International Women’s Day, she was also thinking about the building’s origins, she says.

“Just all of those amazing women from the early 1900s that had the perseverance and the tenacity to think that they could raise enough money to match what the board assumed they would be unable to match,” says McKenzie. “It was incredible what they did.”

Origin story

The 1925 opening of Ban Righ Hall – the first Queen’s residence specifically built to be a residence for women at the university – was the culmination of about 15 years of work by the Alumnae Association, strengthened by newly formed branches across Canada.

The volunteer group of female graduates entirely planned the building and raised over $80,000 – more than half of the required funds for it – through small donations and social events like rummage sales, bake sales and teas, and shamelessly canvassing friends for donations.

Queen’s Board of Trustees, initially reluctant due to concerns about the residence’s then remote location, provided the rest of the funding.

In return, the Alumnae Association fought for and won a role in the administration and supervision of the residence, which they held until the early 1970s.

“At the time it was built, it would have been unbelievably good for the university,” says Shelagh McDonald, Artsci’83, MBA’85, the president of the Queen’s Women’s Association from 2022 to 2024. “It would have been a time when women were just beginning to go to university in larger numbers, and it would have given them a safe environment to go back to at the end of the day.”  

For Diane McKenzie, it was the camaraderie on her floor of Ban Righ that she remembers most from 1959.    

“That was one wonderful year because you knew everyone,” she says. “We were very close.”

Members of the Queen's community attending the celebration. (Dylan Manary / Office of the Rector)

A new era

By the end of the 1960s, the Alumnae Association was managing Ban Righ Hall, along with Adelaide Hall, Chown Hall, and Victoria Hall. Their budget surpluses had grown to about $420,000.

In 1969, Queen’s wanted to bring all of the residences under unified management and asked the association to transfer over this surplus. They refused.

Instead, in 1974, the association invested the capital in a new foundation called the Ban Righ Foundation for the Continuing Education of Women – now the Ban Righ Centre. Its focus on providing services and support to mature female students continues today, having celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2024.

Diane McKenzie was one of the original members of the foundation’s board.

“I feel as a Queen’s alumna, as a woman, that it’s so important to remember this history so that this heritage continues to exist,” she says. “It was Queen’s women who were responsible for all of this.”

Shelagh McDonald agrees.

“Historically, these spaces gave a real sense of importance that women were valued and encouraged to follow a degree – and they still do,” she says.

For current Ban Righ Hall House President Eileen Danaee, BHSc’25, that history – and its significance – oozes from the residence’s walls.

“Sometimes, when I’m walking these halls, I just say, ‘Wow, there were students here 100 years ago.’ It’s remarkable,” she says. “It’s a testament to how far female-identifying students have come at Queen’s and how much work has gone into maintaining this home away from home. It’s also a reminder that there will be many more years of strong community for women at Queen’s.”

Celebrations of Ban Righ Hall’s 100th anniversary will continue throughout 2025, including during Homecoming weekend.

This story originally appeared in the Queen’s Gazette.