Concordia University releases the report of its External Governance Review Committee

June 15, 2011

By Jennifer Sipos-Smith

Glen A. Jones, Ontario Research Chair on post-secondary education policy and measurement and former associate dean academic at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE) together with Bernard Shapiro, the former principal of McGill University, and André C. Coté, former dean of law and secretary-general of Universite Laval have concluded their work as an external governance review committee to Concordia University.  Their report, Strengthening governance at Concordia: A collective challenge, was released by Concordia today, and members of the University community have been invited to provide input on the report's recommendations.

Bernard A. Shapiro, the committee head, was Canada's first ethics commissioner and is an also a professor emeritus at OISE.  The committee was created following the dismissal of former Concordia president Judith Woodsworth.  Concordia University's Board of Governors asked President and Vice-Chancellor Frederick Lowy to consider the governance of the university in broad terms, and the three-person committee of independent experts was struck. 

The Executive Committee of the Board and the Steering Committee of Senate met today with the External Governance Review Committee to learn firsthand about the contents of the report.  Members of the Concordia community are invited to a June 28 open meeting hosted by Dr. Lowy to allow for a full discussion of the report and its recommendations.