Dear readers,

Welcome to this year’s Dis-Orientation Guide. Here you will find top secret information about UChicago (things they don’t want you to know but we think you should), resources, and information about organizations that you can join. 

UChicago is an institution that has a legacy of gentrification and violent displacement, policing of surrounding neighborhoods, and not caring for the needs (such as mental health, access to resources, etc) of its students. That’s why we, as students who have learned about the harmful systems this school perpetuates, wanted to write this book to the incoming students, and tell you what the fuck we’re doing about it.

This book builds upon an understanding that the roots of these injustices lie in racial capitalism, settler colonialism, patriarchy, ableism, policing & imprisonment, etc. Student organizing is about collective and direct action – we bring the crisis to its creators and take action to force our demands to be met. A lot of times, it can feel inevitable that we have to live at the whims of powerful institutions. It can feel inevitable that UChicago gets richer and continues its project of gentrification and policing. It can feel inevitable that UChicago continues to not care about its students’ wellbeing. But organizing is about changing the conditions of what is possible, and we are here to make our dreams the inevitable outcomes. 

Typically, the targets for our work are members of UChicago’s administration, i.e., individuals who have the power to give us what we want. For example, if our demand is for UChicago to decrease its police jurisdiction, we would focus on and target the Chief of Security at UChicago. If our demand relates to funding, such as the demands for affordable housing that you will learn about later in this book, we would target the Board of Trustees and the President (who chairs the board.) 

Anyways, that’s enough for an introduction! We have put together the rest of these pages with a lot of love and care, and hope you will learn a lot! To get the most out of this book, and to come into the organizing spaces the writers and designers have outlined, we also hope you will approach our shared values with an open mind. 

Love,
Dis-O 2023 Team ❤︎