The Board was originally established in 1985 by the Alma Mater Society (AMS) on the recommendation of the Senate. Its purpose then was to review Orientation Week events and report on their consistency with the University's Code of Conduct.
But in 1991, after a recommendation in an influential report by the Ad Hoc Senate Committee to Review Orientation, the board was transformed from an AMS body to an ordinary standing committee of the Senate. Its mandate now is to set general policies for Orientation Week, policies to be carried out by the Alma Mater Society and the faculty societies.
Each fall it observes Orientation to monitor how well its policies were carried out, and invites submissions from inside and outside of Queen's before making a report on the year's Orientation to the Senate. In making its policies, it is instructed to consult widely and to use as its principal set of criteria the official goals of Orientation as formulated by the Senate in 1988.
It is made up of students, faculty members, and staff members, all appointed by the Senate Nominating Committee. The formal name of this committee is now the Senate Orientation Activities Review Board (SOARB).
Learn more about SOARB...