When I attended the second round of the Disorientation Tour held by Lesbians for Liveable Futures (L4LF) and the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO) on March 10, I was met with an array of familiar faces who were both surprised and glad to see me there. I shared a class with one of the event’s leaders in my first year, and we would sit together in ADM 026, talking about assignments, politics, and everything in between. They grinned widely at me and asked, “Are you ready to feel disoriented?”
The L4LF’s Instagram (@lesbians4liveablefutures) first advertised the event to me. I immediately noted it and put it on my calendar. It was the type of event that I always hankered towards, and I wanted to support newer student clubs on campus. However, the Disorientation Tour not only met my expectations but subverted them. This event taught me how, despite studying and working here for two years and hearing perspectives about this campus from various people, there was still so much history that I didn’t know.
The Disorientation Tour acted, in many ways, like an anti-campus tour. It felt like a campus tour put together by students for students' interests and knowledge.
We started on the 2nd floor of the UNC and went all over campus to spots that might not be included in a regular campus tour, like the SVRPO office next to the Nicola residence building. We learned about what came before SVPRO, whose office was only opened in 2017.
The Sexual Assault & Rape Awareness (S.A.R.A) campaign was an on-campus, student-led prevention campaign founded in 2011 and acted as a building block to show that there was a need for more formalised support for victims of sexual assault. The campaign is one of many examples of students pushing for initiatives and changes on campus based on what the student population needed, which served the campus community well.
We visited many similar places that showcased student-led initiatives, leading to collaboration and moments of student activism. We visited the UNC Ballroom, where both of the SUO’s Annual General Meetings were held this year with perplexing results, and the RBC branch on the first floor of the UNC, where we learnt about the history of RBC Off-Campus. We also visited one of the newest additions to the UBCO campus, the Black Student Lounge, an essential space for Black-identifying students.
Alongside current movements and initiatives on campus, we also learnt about examples of previous activism. We visited the first floor of the Admin building and walked to the Deputy Vice Chancellor’s office for a ‘history lesson.’ This is where I learnt that UBC Okanagan’s custodians used to be part of the Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) under an invalid contract. However, in 2018, they were able to campaign, alongside the social organisation Justice for Janitors, for a better agreement and to join SEIU Local 2. As part of this campaign to switch from CLAC to SEIU, faculty members and union members organised a demonstration to highlight the injustice of their current contract. Around 60 people marched to the former DVC’s office and pressured the administration through chanting and signs, ultimately leading to this campaign's success.
This, amongst other moments during the tour, gave me hope and signified potential for things to change; for students, staff and faculty to campaign together and be in solidarity.
Other moments of the Disorientation tour included collaborative poem writing at the Old Pond with Dr. Astrida Neimanis, who prompted us to think about the unceded, ancestral land that we are occupying, and a brief conversation with Dr. David Jefferess about past activism and initiatives that took place on campus where the student population was very few, back in 2006, especially on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. He told us that attempts at Racial Equity and Inclusion did not start in the last two years but have been something that faculty and students have worked towards for decades.
The event ended with a meal in the Senior Collegium, and I got a better chance to talk to other students on the tour there. As a cultural studies student, I attended the event to put some theory into practice and learn more about these types of events, but I wasn’t the only type of student who was attending. There were students from anthropology, computer science, English, and even master’s students. Students from all over campus came to this event to learn more about the type of work behind building a community and what had come before.
At the very beginning of the tour, our ‘tour guides’ recited an Audre Lorde quote that I have been thinking about ever since:
“Survival is not an academic skill … It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
Unfortunately, students are not taught how to cope with major social and political events or how to form their community, so clubs like L4LF and events like these are essential to showing students that there is a history on this campus and there will continue to be a storied history on this campus.
1 UBC Okanagan Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office Annual Report. (2023, November 21). Source Link
2 S.A.R.A. (n.d.). https://saraubco.wordpress.com/
3 Gupta, S. (2025, March 24). SUO Faces Severe Allegations Of Undemocratic Processes. The Phoenix News. Source Link
4 Putuma, K. (2021, October 22). Koleka Putuma: “EVERY / THREE HOURS” . The Johannesburg Review of Books. Source Link
5 SEIU Local 2. (2018, July 16). UBC-Okanagan Cleaners overwhelmingly vote yes to join SEIU Local 2 after defeat of Boss “Union.” GlobeNewswire. Source Link
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