At least 10 Canadian university campuses across Canada this semester have hosted alternative frosh weeks—also known as “alt frosh.”
Alt frosh are series of events hosted by campus groups to welcome new students to school. They are referred to as “alternative” as they are hosted separately from main fall orientation events.
These events are something that has continued to grow in popularity, such as local grassroots organization Black Like Me hosting their third intercollegiate Black frosh in Ottawa.
Selali A-W and Sakinna Gairey founded the group, which A-W describes as an organization that sparked out of a conversation they were having with a friend.
“We were talking about why I personally hadn’t gone to frosh and why my friend decided to go to frosh and end up regretting it eventually,” they said. “We were talking about the ways which we could actually make a frosh that would suit our needs as Black students.”
The founders said there has been a lot of community cooperation and community support as Black frosh has grown through the years.
“Honestly, every time I think about how far we’ve come, one [sic] I can’t believe how much it looks like . . . a lot of things that we didn’t expect,” A-W said. “For example, when we first started out, we hoped that people would think it’s cool—people who needed it would come to it. And that was pretty much it.”
Now, they said, it’s grown into building community and allowing students to have a space, which is “touching and inspirational.”
Activities include workshops as well as educational, social and creative events, Gairey said.
“Our vision is change and our vision is growing and changing with people, with their needs and with their wants and their aspirations and ways that we can help them,” she said.
Creating a space students need
A-W and Gairey also talked about it bringing awareness to the issues and challenges Black students face.
“We just want people to know that there are Black people here, we face a lot of the same issues, and ultimately, when we get together, we just want to talk about exploring who we are and our fullness in our blackness and beyond and dive into who we want to be,” A-W said.
The organizers also responded to online criticism that their Black frosh is segregating people by addressing some misconceptions around it. This includes them hating other people and thinking that other types of alternative frosh are not acceptable, according to her.
“What about indigenous, other types of frosh,” A-W recalls people asking them. “They seem surprised to hear me say, yes people should have that. I think anybody should have anything they feel like they need to live a full human life.”
Gairey said Black frosh is “a chance to be empowered” and is necessary.
“It’s very important to understand that we are needed and even people who don’t necessarily know they need this yet find out,” she said.
Black Like Me has also collaborated with the Black Liberation Collective to host Ryerson University’s first black frosh this year.
A growing movement
Dalhousie University also hosted their first alternative frosh week this year, called “Dreaming in Colour.” It was organized by the Black, Indigenous & People of Colour (BIPOCUS) Caucus in partnership with the NSCAD University student union and the King’s College student union.
“We’re here to take back the narrative, take centre stage and highlight our own excellence,” Aisha Abawajy, executive chair of BIPOCUS, said.
She said that while the event was a success with a turnout of over 100 people, there could have been more support from the student union and the university.
This, she said, includes uncertainty about how much funding and the student union’s capability to provide better vendors and performers. Abawajy noted most of the organizing fell on BIPOCUS members.
She also added that events such spoken word and dance “push the boundaries of buzzwords like diversity and multiculturalism . . . and show us as people.” She said it also pushes back against stereotypes about minorities.
Abawajy said while the general school population is fine with alternative frosh, the onus to support these initiatives falls on university leadership.
“I think the biggest issue is . . . the fact that folks don’t have the capacity or don’t understand what it means to work in an anti-oppressive framework and work to empower Black, Indigenous and people of colour.”
“First thing that is going to change that is students who aren’t represented taking up leadership roles,” she added, saying that the goal is to be funded and supported by the university.
Digger deeper into issues that matter
Brad Evoy, the volunteer, outreach and program coordinator at OPIRG Carleton, said the group has multiple chapters in universities across Canada. He said Carleton has been doing some sort of alternative frosh activity for a long time. They hosted another “Disorientation Week” this year.
“It’s generally a space for students to explore alternative narratives that are kind of placed in front of folks around the university,” Evoy said.
Events such as “Radicalism 101,” a seminar introducing students to the Ottawa activist community, “really got people into the activism community in the broader Ottawa area,” he said. This includes Indigenous rights and other social issues, depending on the university.
Evoy said the narratives from general frosh orientation can “gloss over” aspects of university life and types of activism students can get involved in. OPIRG Carleton provides a space devoted to research, education and action, according to him.
“Ultimately, that I think is the goal of Disorientation: to hold space for alternative viewpoints, to hold space for directed affected communities and to show folks that resources are there for folks that they might not otherwise be aware of,” he said.
As for the future of alternative frosh in Canada, Abawajy said she hopes it will be normalized.
“I hope that in the future we build it into a situation where we no longer need to call it an alternative frosh because it’s already incorporated as centered into the frosh that we do every year,” she said.
A-W shares the same sentiment.
“Soon enough, it will not seem so odd to have an alternative frosh,” A-W said. They said they have optimism for the future.
“I think we’re only going to see more of them as time goes on,” they said. “I think that’s a great thing. I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
Graphic by Paloma Callo
