Sir George Williams University was a university in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

on August 24, 1974.

History

In 1851, the first

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène Street in Old Montreal. Beginning in 1873, the YMCA offered evening classes to allow working people in the English-speaking community to pursue their education while working during the day. Sixty years later, the Montreal YMCA relocated to its current location on Stanley Street in

Downtown Montreal Downtown Montreal ( French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the borough of Vil ...

. In 1926, the education program at the YMCA was re-organized as Sir George Williams College, named after George Williams, founder of the original YMCA in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, upon which the Montreal YMCA was based. In 1934, Sir George Williams College offered the first undergraduate credit course in adult education in Canada. Sir George Williams College received its university charter from the provincial government in 1948, though it remained the education arm of the Montreal YMCA. Sir George Williams expanded into its first standalone building, the Norris Building, in 1956. In 1959, the college requested that the Quebec legislature amend its university charter, changing its name to Sir George Williams University. It established a Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies in 1963. Sir George Williams continued to hold classes in the YMCA building until the construction of the Henry F. Hall Building in 1966. Following several years of discussions and planning, Sir George Williams University merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University in 1974. Concordia provided students with representative student organizations and greater power over administrative decisions at the university.

Sir George Williams Computer Centre Incident

The university gained international attention in 1969, when a group of Black students occupied the

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's 9th floor computer lab to protest alleged racism by the university. This protest was documented in the 2015 film '' The Ninth Floor'' by director Mina Shum.

Sir George Williams Georgians

The Sir George Williams Georgians were the

Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

teams that represented Sir George Williams University. Shortly after Sir George Williams merged with Loyola College to create

in 1974, the Georgians and the

Loyola Warriors Loyola College was a Jesuit college in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1896 and ceased to exist as an independent institution in 1974 when it was incorporated into Concordia University. A portion of the original college remains as a s ...

were replaced by the

Concordia Stingers The Concordia Stingers are the athletic teams that represent Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They compete with other schools in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, and more specifically in Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (R ...

Principals

Alumni

* Bob Berry (born 1943), NHL player *

Gundega Cenne Gundega Aria Janfelds Cenne (1933 – December 16, 2009) was a Latvian-born Canadian artist and art educator. Early life Gundega Aria Janfelds was born in Riga, the daughter of Valentins Janfelds and Hilda-Alma Freimanis Janfelds. Her family l ...

(1933-2009), artist * John Alton Collins (1917–2007), political cartoonist *

Anne Cools Anne Clare Cools (born August 12, 1943) is a Canadian retired senator and the longest serving member of the Senate of Canada. As a social worker, Cools was a pioneer in the protection of women from domestic violence, running one of the first dome ...

(born 1943), Canadian Senator and social worker * Robert Dean (1927-2021), Canadian politician *

Rosie Douglas Roosevelt Bernard "Rosie" Douglas (15 October 1941 – 1 October 2000) was a politician and human rights activist from Dominica. He served as Prime Minister of Dominica from February 2000 until his death in office eight months later. Early life ...

(1941-2000), Prime Minister of

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

Stuart McLean Andrew Stuart McLean, (April 19, 1948 – February 15, 2017) was a Canadian radio broadcaster, humorist, monologist, and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio program ''The Vinyl Cafe''.E. Annie Proulx E is the fifth letter of the Latin alphabet. E or e may also refer to: Commerce and transportation * €, the symbol for the euro, the European Union's standard currency unit * ℮, the estimated sign, an EU symbol indicating that the weigh ...

(born 1935), novelist, short story writer, journalist * Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch, rabbi and author (1928-2020) *

Mordecai Richler Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...

(1931-2001), author * Bernie Wolfe (born 1951), NHL player

References

{{Authority control Concordia University Defunct universities and colleges in Canada English-language universities and colleges in Quebec Educational institutions established in 1926 Educational institutions disestablished in 1974 1926 establishments in Quebec 1974 disestablishments in Quebec Universities and colleges founded by the YMCA