Disorientation Guide Collective writes, "So you've gotten to the University of California at Santa Cruz. Congratulations! What now? The ideas the University produces about itself construct an ideal image of what awaits you here: an image of fulfillment and understanding, a picture of the life you might build for yourself after you get your degree. So how couldn't you be idealistic and excited? After all, you’ve arrived at one of the most beautiful places in the world and prepared yourself for the journey of a lifetime.

"There’s just one problem: The stories the University tells about itself--its dedication to higher knowledge, its liberalism, its openness--are MISLEADING and OPPRESSIVE. Its merits, prestige, positive stereotypes…are LIES.

"Throughout the course of this Guide we will do our best to dispel these illusions, to disillusion and disorient you, ultimately opening the way for a stronger, clearer, more independent understanding of yourself, your university and what lies behind this all. We have interrupted these myths by remembering and recording UCSC’s decades of empty promises, shady fronts, and projects in the service of mechanical socialization and exploitative capitalism. Within these pages, you will find the research and analysis, art and humor we have collectively gathered in our efforts to expose the structures of our life and reorient our understanding of them." Read More | Download the 2009-2010 Disorientation Guide (pdf)

previous UCSC Disorientation Guides: 2007-2008 || 2006-2007 || 2004-2005