Enlightenment symposium

Lonergan University College, which specializes in interdisciplinary studies, recently held a day-long symposium to explore its subject of concentration this year, capitalism and the Enlightenment.

The speakers were Political Science Professor James Moore, on natural rights and the four stages theory of society in the Scottish enlightenment; Edward King (Political Science, McGill), on the perfection of style in Adam Smith’s theory of moral eloquence; Tim Hochstrasser (London School of Economics), on Montesquieu and the Physiocrats; Michael Tremblay (Political Science, Concordia), on the morals of commercial and courtly societies; Colin Duncan (History, McGill), on Adam Smith and the agricultural capitalists; and Douglas Long (Political Science, Western Ontario), on “merchants and citizens.”

Norman Ravvin book launch

Norman Ravvin, Chair of Concordia’s Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies, has written a new book, Hidden Canada: An Intimate Travelogue.

He invites his colleagues and friends to attend the launch at the Jewish Public Library on May 2 at 7:30 p.m. A reception will follow. A small admission is being charged. For information, please call 345-2629 (3017).

Web registration

Since last fall, a project team has been working on the development and implementation of a Web Registration System for undergraduate students and for students in several graduate programs.

Terry Too, Assistant Registrar, headed the team, and announced last week that a pilot group of graduate students started registering for courses via the Web on Monday. A small group of undergraduate students will be testing out Web Registration over the course of the summer.

The new Web Registration System will complement the current CARL (Telephone Registration) system.

Concordia wins Centraide prize

Centraide, the umbrella organization that raises operating funds for Montreal-area charities and community organizations, held an awards ceremony held on April 19 at the Université de Montréal.

Concordia University won an award for the success of its 2000 campaign in the category of organizations with 1,000 or more employees. The other finalists in that category were the National Bank, CAE and Pratt & Whitney.

Concordians really responded to the Centraide appeal last fall, showing a 52-per-cent increase in giving over the admittedly poor response the year before. In total, 310 donors raised $65,014, much of it given through payroll contributions spread over the year.

The most heartwarming part of the campaign on campus was the initiative shown by individuals who organized fundraising events. These included a windshield-washing blitz on both campuses, baking, pizza and craft sales, a loonie line, passing the hat at football games and a weekly raffle for donors.

The Centraide committee was headed this year by William Curran and Patricia Posius, who accepted a bronze statuette at the ceremony on behalf of all the generous donors at the university and the rest of the committee and its helpers, including Gerry Jones, Jane Scribner, Allyson Noftall, Henry Kovalcik, Muriel Salari, Monir Wahhab and Engineering students Mario Ciaramicoli and Michael Nimchuk.

Six exam deferrals

Only a handful of students applied to have a final exam deferred on the grounds that they were planning to attend the protest activities around the Summit of the Americas last weekend in Quebec City.

Six students supplied to the Office of Registrar all the information required to meet the conditions of an exam deferral, which are set out in the university calendar. Several others inquired but didn’t supply the necessary documents.

A resolution taken by University Senate in February made attendance at the protest a condition of deferral for students in their graduating year. The decision was noted in the media as far away as the U.S. and Western Canada, and attracted some controversy.