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| Dawson College | |
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| Established: | 1969 |
| Type: | CEGEP |
| Dean: | Robert Kavanagh |
| Director General: | Richard Filion |
| Students: | 10,000[1] |
| Location: | Westmount, Quebec, Canada (Coordinates: ) |
| Campus: | Urban (4.85 hectares) |
| Sports teams: | Blues |
| Colours: | blue and white |
| Nickname: | Blues |
| Affiliations: | CUSID, ACCC, CCAA, QSSF |
| Website: | www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca |
Dawson College (French: Collège Dawson) was the first English CEGEP and is located in Westmount, just west of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Dawson College is located near the heart of downtown Montreal in a former nunnery on 4.85 hectares of green space. It is the largest English-language CEGEP, with a student population of more than 7,000 day students and 3,000 night students enrolled in more than 50 fields of study.
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Programs
The CEGEP offers two types of programs: pre-university and technical. The pre-university programs, which take two years to complete, cover the subject matters which roughly correspond to the additional year of high school given elsewhere in Canada in preparation for a chosen field in university. The technical programs, which take three years to complete, apply to students who wish to pursue a skilled trade. Evening courses are offered through Continuing Education in both credit and non credit division and corporate training is available as well. Dawson recently partnered with the University of Sherbrooke to launch the Confucius Institute in Quebec on its campus.
History
Originally, a Dawson College existed at the Royal Canadian Air Force Base, St. Jean (now Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu), Quebec, in the Eastern Townships (later the location of Le Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean). It was a satellite campus set up on September 26, 1945 by McGill University to handle the overflow registration of students after the Second World War and the returning veterans. Those students in the first 3 years of the Faculty of Engineering were taught there, thus relieving the McGill campus for the later 2 years for the degree course. That version of Dawson College was closed in May 1950.
The college traces its origins to the merger of several institutions which became public in 1967, when the Quebec system of CEGEPs was created. The current Dawson College was the first English-language institution in the Quebec network of CEGEPs when it opened its doors to 1,200 students in the fall of 1969. The College is named for Sir William Dawson, a principal of McGill University from 1855 to 1893.
The College was originally housed in a converted pharmaceutical factory at 350 Selby Street in Westmount. In 1970, a second campus (used mostly for Creative Arts programs) was opened on Viger Street just to the north of Old Montreal. Two years later, its third campus was opened near Parc Lafontaine. By 1988 Dawson either still or had also operated the Richelieu campus in St. Henri, the DeLorimier campus, the Victoria campus on McGill Street (in Old Montreal), with additional facilities on Saint Catherine Street among other locations.
In 1988, Dawson College occupied the former Mother House of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. Full consolidation under one roof only happened in 1997, when the Selby building was finally closed. Extensive renovations transformed the century-old building into an attractive, modern, and well-equipped college, occupying an entire city block between de Maisonneuve Boulevard and Sherbrooke Street and Wood Avenue in Westmount and Atwater Street in Montreal.
Dawson Student Union
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The Dawson Student Union (DSU) is the students' union representing the approximately 7,000 full-time students at Dawson. It funds, coordinates and regulates clubs and activities, as well as being a resource for students to direct them to appropriate departments or services or inform them of their rights and lobby for them, if necessary.citation needed
In April 2005, the DSU was accredited by the Quebec Government (as per R.S.Q. ch A-3.01) after the largest student turnout in the college's history.[2] About 70% of students voted in favour of accreditation (comprising about 27% of the total full-time student population).[3] This makes the union independent from the college, as before it existed only by agreement with the college for the past 20 years.citation needed
The Accreditation was the culmination of a two year struggle to allow Dawson students to decide the issue of independence for themselves. Led by student leaders Ethan Cox, Melanie Hotchkiss and Kelly Leakey the DSU overcame threats, intimidation and organized resistance from the College administration to finally hold a vote on accreditation.
After the accreditation, the College administration refused to recognize the DSU and withheld its funds[4]. After a lengthy legal battle during which the DSU won a safeguard injunction against the administration the College settled with the union[5], turned over their money and agreed to recognize their rights.
The DSU has since been working to establish itself as a functional, autonomous, accredited student union.
Campus Activities
Dawson College has a very large number of clubs. These include religious and language-themed clubs, para-academic groups, athletic clubs, program-based clubs, cultural clubs and more. Dawson also has a radio station, CIXS, that broadcasts only inside the school, as well as a student newspaper, The Plant, which publishes every Thursday during term, with a circulation in 2007 of about 2000 copies.
The majority of the clubs are in the 2C wing of the college, which is on the ground-level in the centre of the school, while the athletics department is located in the 1H wing, in the metro-level south-west corner of the school. New clubs can be formed with the help of the DSU.
Campus Athletics
Dawson College, known nationally as the “Blues” has one of the largest intercollegiate programs in Canada. The Athletics facilities on campus are among the best of any in the country. A large number of recreational and intramural programs are also offered to the student population. Although Dawson College offers a wide variety of sports to its student body, the national governing body of college athletics, the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) only sanctions five sports nationally (AAA), those sports are: Basketball, Soccer, Golf, Badminton, and Cross Country Running. Of these five sports Dawson College competes nationally in four, Basketball, Golf, Cross Country Running and Soccer. In Dawson's 38 year history they have been treated to a very proud athletic history, from winning Men's and Women's Provincial hockey championships to the CCAA awarding the Dawson College Blues a banner representing "25 Years of Basketball Supremacy"
School shooting
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On September 13, 2006, a shooting occurred at Dawson College. Kimveer Gill, a 25 year-old resident of Laval, Quebec entered the school armed with a variety of guns, including a Beretta Cx4 Storm semi-automatic pistol-caliber carbine with a black synthetic stock. Gill began firing on students outside of the entrance and again in the Atrium, before committing suicide after being shot by police. Some witnesses reported to having seen a second gunman, a claim that has later proven incorrect by local police. There has been one victim who has died, 18-year-old female student Anastasia Rebecca de Sousa, as well as 19 other injured, 8 of them critically.
The shooter was dressed in black trenchcoat and combat boots. Gill has already drawn comparisons to Columbine High School killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold for his style of dress. He was a member of gothmetal.net where he is seen holding guns and favored the video game depicting the Columbine High shootings. His member name is his actual name. A similar profile has been depicted on the website www.vampirefreaks.com, though it was taken down by the website administrators for reasons as of yet unknown. His profile name on that website is fatality666. Around 10:41a.m. that morning, Gill made a final entry on the Vampire Freaks and listed his mood as "No mood." He wrote "Whiskey in the morning, mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm, good!!"
The media has developed a theory that Gill's motive was to copycat the Columbine High school shootings on April 20, 1999. Gill is believed to have been wearing military-style clothing (also worn by Columbine gunman Eric Harris), black boots, and a black trench coat. Students say Gill was calm and shot randomly.
The college was closed until Friday, Sept. 15, when teachers and support staff returned. Students were given access to the campus again on Monday, Sept. 18, and classes resumed the following day.
Other schools in Canada, including the four universities in Montreal, provided grief counseling for their students. Some had also put up special messages regarding this incident.
College Newspaper
The Plant is the Dawson College student-run paper. Founded in 1969, it is a member of Canadian University Press (CUP), and is the largest CEGEP newspaper in Quebec. The Plant is published weekly during the school year.
Editors are chosen at the end of each semester (August-December, January-May) for the upcoming semester based on a democratic vote by the previous editors and the 'Writing For The Plant' class. The Plant's Editor in Chief for Winter 2008 is Matthew Jancovic.
Notable Alumni
See also
English-language CEGEPs:
References
- ^ "Profile of Dawson College: Montreal, Quebec". Canada's Higher Education and Career Guide. canadian-universities.net (2003-2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-19.
- ^ The McGill Daily
- ^ The McGill Daily
- ^ The McGill Daily
- ^ http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=4120 and the Montreal Gazette article cited below but not available online without a subscription
- ^ Curriculum Vitae
- CEGEP union fights for independence — Sept. 18, 2005
- Dawson Student Union Win Major Victory Against Administration — July 20, 2005
- Dawson students consider accreditation — November 9, 2004
- Montreal Gazette, Nick Weatherall — July 22, 2005
- Dawson's Board Of Governors Minutes (PDF format) — June 13, 2005
- Dawson's Board Of Governors Minutes (PDF format) — Sept 22, 2005
External links
