The closure of Université de Moncton's sociology department in the spring of 1969 constitutes a unique event in the history of Canadian academics. In this paper, the authors examine the causes behind this closure. They present an intermingling and collision of motivations of different actors and movements in Acadian academic life during the late sixties: student associations, the young sociology professors, the professors association, the university administration, etc. Beyond being simply a historical anecdote, the closing of the sociology department symbolizes a larger political crisis, where two social conceptions compete: the administration envisaged a rational administration of the social, while the sociology students and professors wished for a society based on socialist and participative principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]