Subserie 10 - Government of Canada

The King's Student Union is the governing student organization of the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and acts as the students' representative in improving academic and campus life experiences. It functions as a body of students elected to represent the interests of fellow students.

The King's Students' Union ("KSU") includes all students attending the University of King's College. Its purpose is to provide services for its members and represent them politically. The KSU has members on the Board of Governors and on University committees, and works with the University administration to improve the quality of education and student life at College.

The services provided by the KSU include a health insurance plan, Orientation Week, the Student Handbook, the yearbook, and graduation week activities. The KSU also funds many different societies and committees and King's athletics. The KSU operates HMCS King's Wardroom, the campus lounge. The KSU is governed by its members at general meetings, open forums where each member has an equal vote and right to participate in direct democracy. Between the two general meetings each year, Student Council acts as the governing body of the KSU. Council meetings are open to all KSU members, but the only people who may vote are the 17 elected-representatives.

Students have operated on a collective basis from the early years of the University of King's College, which was founded in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1789. In 1806, students presented a memorial to the Board of Governors soliciting assistance in meeting their living expenses, obliged, as they then were, to provide their own servants. This was one of many petitions drawn up over the years. Other student organizations that were formed for the furtherance of particular objectives have a long history at King's, as well: the Quintilian, a debating society, was founded in 1845, and the Haliburton literary society was founded in 1884. Both continue today with financial support from the KSU.

Almost four decades after female students were admitted to King's College in 1893, the Co-Ed Council was formed in 1932 to represent the interests of female students. (The Co-Ed Council should not be confused with the Co-Ed Club, also called the Co-Ed Association, that was active from 1913-1967.) In 1965, the Co-Ed Council merged with the Men's Students' Council, the modem KSU was formed, and the students elected their first President.