Our Vision
Unity. Excellence. Scholarship.
Our Mandate
The Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS) began in 2011 as a passion project between graduate and undergraduate students eager to foster community among self-identified people of colour. These students were eager to engage in a dialogue surrounding the issues that face the Black diaspora, and to discover their role in addressing these issues. Building upon these seeds, our mission is to advance Black academics on a whole through a focus on education, equity, wellness, and issues pertinent to the Black community.
Our History
Queen’s Black Academic Society (QBAS) previously QCBI, was ratified under the AMS in the summer of 2011. After speaking with many students and sharing individual and collective experiences, it was realized that the services Black students needed to fully integrate themselves into the Queen’s community were lacking. These students were eager to engage in a dialogue surrounding the issues that faced the Black diaspora, and to discover their role in addressing these issues. QBAS was formed to address this need.
In the early years, QBAS was known as the Queen’s Community of Black Intellectuals (QCBI). In 2013 QBAS changed its mandate, to allow us greater freedom in the sorts of conversations we wished to engage. As a result, we also changed the club’s name to reflect the change of direction in our approach. Through its programming, the group seeks to create a safe space and to foster a sense of community amongst Black students, faculty, staff, and alumni. To this end, QBAS has hosted a variety of events discussing the role of art in the Black Community, the influence of China on Africa, violence amongst Black youth and, indigeneity and the Black community. We have been well received with great interest, and have quickly built a supportive community of students who feel welcome to share their personal thoughts and debate on social, political, and economic matters.
We use the term “Black” for a general understanding of our targeted group but understand that it is a loose term and is not sufficient to categorize peoples of varying origins and backgrounds. As such, we emphasize self-identification as an important component of our group. Through our efforts, we seek to provide the resources needed for Black members of the Queen’s community to develop into socially aware, articulate and confident individuals.
Queen's Black Academic Society 