CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY AT 50
Concordia University at 50
A Collective History
EDITED BY MONIKA KIN GAGNON AND BRANDON WEBB
WITH STEVEN HIGH, CATHERINE WILD, AND JASON CAMLOT
November 2024
$39.95 CAD | $39.95 USD
448 pages | 140 photos | 7 x 9
9781988111575 | Paper
9781988111582 | E-book
Concordia University at 50: A Collective History celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the merging of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University in Montreal in August 1974. Distinct from traditional institutional histories, this volume approaches Concordia University’s history from the ground up by sharing a plurality of voices from across the university over time. Fifty contributions from faculty, staff, students, and alumni, present stories of a vibrant community and its activities in a multilayered collection of professional and personal reflections, essays, and oral histories conducted with participants and observers of key events.
Providing insights into the early political pressures that inspired Concordia’s formation and the growing pains of the merger among its four faculties, as well as the development of new programs such as dance, theological studies, and études françaises, this book is a testament to an urban university formed by its many constituents and by the multilingual city and the complex province that is its home.
Enriched with copious and colourful archival documents, photographs, and public artworks that grace these urban campuses, Concordia University at 50 highlights the great range of activities, causes, innovations, and debates that emerge from educational institutions but extend well beyond the classroom.
| Introduction |
Monika Kin Gagnon | xiii |
| Introduction to Oral Histories | Steven High | xvii |
| Foundations | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 The Quiet Revolution and the Creation of Concordia University | Ronald Rudin | 3 |
| 2 Oral Histories: The Merger and Its Legacies | André Laprade, Russell Breen, Jack Bordan, Henry Habib, Nancy Marrelli, Linda Dyer | 15 |
| 3 Planning Concordia’s Loyola and Sir George Williams Campuses: The First 25 Years, 1974–1999 | Dominique Dumont, Rocio Carvajo-Lucena, and Susan D. Bronson | 25 |
| 4 Statement on Tuition Fees in Quebec and Their Impact on Women (2012) | Simone de Beauvoir Institute, with an introduction by Viviane Namaste | 41 |
| 5 Oral Histories: Feminist Perspectives | Maïr Verthuy, Linda Dyer, Elizabeth Morey, Manon Tremblay | 46 |
| 6 The Grey Nuns Mother House: Confronting the Difficult Legacies | Peter Gossage | 53 |
| Building the Institution | ||
| 7 A Brief History of the Faculty of Arts and Science | Miriam Posner | 67 |
| 8 Expanding Energies: The Faculty of Fine Arts | Catherine MacKenzie | 87 |
| 9 “All Merged Up”: The John Molson School of Business | Charles Draimin and Christopher A. Ross | 109 |
| 10 Pathways towards Cultural Diversity, Accessibility, and Knowledge Sharing | Dave McKenzie | 121 |
| 11 The Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science | Christopher Trueman and Ted Stathopoulos | 131 |
| 12 Visual Story: Memorial Installation Dedicated to Four Concordia Professors (1996) | Johanne Sloan | 146 |
| 13 Oral Histories: August 24, 1992 | Donna Whittaker | 153 |
| 14 The School of Graduate Studies: 50+ Years of Cultivating a Graduate and Research Culture | Joanne Beaudoin | 155 |
| 15 Research at Concordia | Jean-Philippe Warren, Julien Larregue, and Vincent Larivière | 169 |
| 16 Building Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) | Jason Edward Lewis and Skawennati | 179 |
| 17 The Transformation of Concordia Library | William M. Curran | 191 |
| 18 Oral Histories: Research and the City | Lynn Hughes, Henry Habib, Maïr Verthuy, Lorna Roth | 205 |
| Community Activations | ||
| 19 Early Indigenous Programming and Pedagogies, 1970–1990 | Colby Gaudet | 215 |
| 20 The Poetry Series at Sir George Williams University | Jason Camlot | 225 |
| 21 History from Below: George Rudé and Montreal as a Radical Crossroads | Brandon Webb and Matthew Penney | 235 |
| 22 Visual Story: The 1969 Sir George Williams University Student Protest against Racism: A Curator’s View | Christiana Abraham | 242 |
| 23 These Halls of Ours: Black Student Presence and Black Montreal Youth History | Annick Maugile Flavien and Désirée Rochat | 249 |
| 24 “We Could Write History”: Telling Stories of the First General Unlimited Student Strike | Nadia Hausfather and Anna Sheftel | 261 |
| 25 Oral Histories: Student Activism | Zev Tiefenbach, Geneva Guérin | 273 |
| 26 Breaking the Tape: Track and Field, Cross-Country Running | John Lofranco and Gavin Taylor | 279 |
| 27 Visual Story: Sports and Athletics | 288 | |
| 28 Oral Histories: Athletics in Action | Paul Chesser | 295 |
| Viewpoints | ||
| 29 Keeping Time with Oscar Peterson: Between Jazz Archives and the Concert Hall | Eric Fillion | 299 |
| 30 Reflections on Student Life | Andrew Woodall | 309 |
| 31 Oral Histories: International Students | Elizabeth Morey | 311 |
| 32 Concordia’s Legacies of 2SLGBTQ+ Student Community Building | Gregorio Pablo Rodríguez-Arbolay | 313 |
| 33 Cinema Politica: Twenty Years of Screening Truth to Power | Svetla Turnin and Ezra Winton | 317 |
| 34 Visual Story: History of Student Media | 320 | |
| 35 Oral Histories: Student Perspectives | Philip Authier, Geneva Guérin | 325 |
| 36 Concordia University and the Loss of Heritage and Housing | Eliot Perrin | 329 |
| 37 Concordia Continuing Education: A History of Lifelong Learning | Kerry Fleming and Ursula Leonowicz | 335 |
| 38 The Art of Conversation: 20 Years of University of the Streets Café | Alexandra Pierre | 339 |
| 39 Visual Story: 30 Things We Love about Concordia (2004) | 342 | |
| Snapshots | ||
| 40 Queer and Sexuality Studies: How Concordia Emerged at the Forefront of New and Vital Disciplines | Matthew Hays | 355 |
| 41 The Story of Ethnocultural Art Histories Research (EAHR) | Alice Ming Wai Jim | 359 |
| 42 The History of the Otsenhákta Student Centre | Portia Lafond | 363 |
| 43 A Short History of Theological Studies and Its Non-confessional Pedagogy | Gabriel A. Desjardins | 369 |
| 44 The Thousand and One Adventures of French at Concordia University | Françoise Naudillon | 377 |
| 45 A History of the Early Childhood and Elementary Program, 1971–2021 | Ellen Jacobs and Nina Howe | 381 |
| 46 Leaping across Time: Four Decades of Contemporary Dance at Concordia University | Silvy Panet-Raymond | 385 |
| 47 Electroacoustic Studies at the Department of Music | Kevin Austin | 389 |
| 48 Oral Histories: Formations | Steven Appelbaum, Ira Robinson, Linda Dyer | 393 |
| Futures | ||
| 49 Reimagining Concordia’s Future: A Kanien’kehá:ka Perspective | Kahérakwas Donna Goodleaf | 399 |
| 50 Afterword | Anne Whitelaw | 405 |
| Public Art Collection and Credits | Sandra Margolian | 415 |
