The Quiet Revolution and the Creation of Concordia University

Abstract

Concordia University was created in 1974 out of the merger of Jesuit-run Loyola College with Sir George Williams University, but the process leading to this new university stretched back to the mid-1960s, along the way reflecting the secularization of Quebec society that was one of the hallmarks of the province’s Quiet Revolution. Loyola College faced an existential crisis when the Université de Montréal ended a long-standing arrangement by which it granted degrees to Loyola students. This arrangement reflected the power of religion, and especially Catholicism, in Quebec society that was now under attack, with language taking its place. Ultimately, Loyola was only able to continue offering university degrees by merging with Sir George Williams to form Concordia, a development that was deeply embedded in the combustible politics of language in Quebec at the time.