Remembering Father John O'Brien. Museum partnership. Climate scare? Generous compensation. Universities of innovation. Student-workers.

Various issues concerning Concordia University are often reported on by news outlets. Here is the most recent coverage pertaining to the institution: 

• The Montreal Gazette writes about the work and legacy of the late Father John O'Brien, the Jesuit priest and alumnus who founded the Department of Communication Arts at Loyola College, which was renamed the Department of Communication Studies when Loyola merged with Sir George Williams University to become Concordia. O'Brien, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, passed away on November 7, 2015 at the age of 91.
• Radio Canada International posts a story about Concordia's partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) to develop a museum-based educational and art therapy complex. It reports that Concordia professors are helping in the development of eight new courses and public programs at the MMFA. The online piece includes audio of an interview with Josée Leclerc, an associate professor in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies. It includes also a Concordia-produced video presenting the Department of Creative Arts Therapies and several of its faculty and students. The CBC radio program Homerun also reported yesterday on the partnership (no link available).
• CNS News, reporting on a study released earlier this week by the U.S. National Association of Scholars focusing on the fossil fuel divestment movement, quotes the lead author of the study as saying that the divestment movement on university and college campuses is "a publicity stunt" managed by activists bent on advancing their climate change agenda at the Paris Climate talks. The article notes that the study has named Concordia a runner-up for their DINO (“divestment in name only”) prize, in reference to the university's decision, last fall, to establish a divestment fund.
• The Montreal Gazette, reporting information gleaned from Access to Information documents, says former McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum, who retired in 2013, appears to have earned considerably more income at McGill than has been publicly documented. The article states that the apparent lack of accountability for remuneration of top administrators of certain universities appears to be waning, and notes that Concordia president Alan Shepard and Munroe-Blum's successor at McGill, Suzanne Fortier, have both made public their contracts and details of their compensation.
• Les Affaires reprises an earlier La Presse + piece about recent innovations at universities in Quebec. It reports on the redesign by the John Molson School of Business of its Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (GDBA) and Graduate Certificate in Business Administration (GCBA) to respond more closely to the needs of undergraduate students from various other study programs and departments. MBA Program Director Sandra Betton is quoted.
• Le Mouton Noir, writing about the unionization of paid university student-workers states that student-workers at Concordia organized into accredited labour unions in 2006.

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