When AMS Vice-President (University Affairs) Ruth Osunde thinks about her first experience at Queen’s, the memory of a less-than-enjoyable Orientation Week comes to mind.
Osunde, also a co-lead for the Queen’s Black Clubs Caucus (QBCC), having not enjoyed her own orientation experience is a sentiment she later realized was shared among many Black students. This realization inspired her to address the root causes of their lack of enjoyment, advocating for the University’s very first Black Orientation.
Designed to foster a strong sense of community for Black first-year students, Black Orientation made its debut in September 2024 under the umbrella of first-year orientation activities.
This new initiative, tailored specifically for Black students, offers a month of events organized by various Black student clubs to ease the transition into life at Queen’s and create a lasting feeling of belonging. QBCC, founded in 2023, spearheaded the first-ever Black Orientation at Queen’s. In addition to organizing events, QBCC holds monthly meetings where of Black student clubs can collaborate, share event plans, and discuss challenges their respective clubs are facing.
According to Osunde, the creation of Black Orientation was inspired by how other universities, like McMaster, Black students, -Notably, McMaster’s Black Student Success Centre (BSSC) provides a dedicated physical space on campus for Black students. After conversations with a BSSC representative, Osunde and her fellow co-lead Rabeca Mengesha, ArtSci ’25, decided to spearhead Black Orientation at Queen’s.
“We’re not making large enough strides to ensure Black students stay at universities, and Black Orientation’s goal is to ensure that we have a better retention rate [of Black Students staying at Queen’s],” Osunde said in an interview with The Journal.
She highlighted the importance of Black Orientation, noting that for many Black students, adjusting to a predominantly white institution can be challenging. Differences in food, culture, and everyday experiences can make it difficult to feel a sense of belonging on campus.
“The reason why Black Orientation is so important is because it targets Black students at this specific time where they’re struggling to find themselves within the fabric that is the Queen’s community, and it hopefully gives them a platform to find other Black students, to introduce themselves to Black clubs, to meet Black upper-years, to talk to people who have been here for four years who’ve stayed,” Osunde said.
One of the events for this year’s inaugural Black Orientation was an organized potluck-style hangout, provided in the the Black Liberation Commons room in Robert Sutherland Hall. The event provided first-year students a chance to speak with each other to build a sense of community in their new home.
READ MORE: Making space: Black Liberation Commons opens at Queen’s
Black Orientation shirts were distributed to students for a tie-dye event, with the theme, “colour your experience as you want it.” Osunde explained the event was more than just creating tie-dye designs but carried a deeper message about belonging and identity.
“The theme [of the event] was ‘colour your experience as you want it’ because there’s no monolith way to be Black at Queen’s, it’s what you want it to be, and we wanted the shirts to showcase that,” Osunde said.
Osunde hopes Black Orientation will encourage Black students there’s a community waiting to accept them.
“You go to the clubs, the music’s not for you. You go to the restaurants, it’s not for you. You go to the grocery stores, the food’s not for you. Nothing around here is tailored to us and so I really hope that Black Orientation makes our [Queen’s] students stick around,” Osunde said.
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