Sir George Williams University was a university in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

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 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 (philanthropist), Georg ...

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. 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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, 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 Concordia University in 1974, the Georgians and the Loyola Warriors 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 (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 (1941-2000), Prime Minister of Dominica *

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'' (1959) and '' Barney's Version'' (1997). His 1970 novel '' St. Urbain's Horseman'' and 1989 novel ...

(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