Anastasia Zorchinsky’s First Rebel News Report Exposes Concordia’s Political “DisOrientation” The Concordia student turns reporter to examine workshops on Palestinian activism, sex workers’ rights and grassroots organizing offered within the university’s wider frosh environment.
For most first-year students, university orientation is supposed to introduce campus services, academic expectations and new classmates. At Concordia University in Montreal, incoming students are also encountering a distinctly political form of orientation.
Councillor Zorchinsky In her first report for Rebel News, Concordia student councillor Anastasia Zorchinsky examines the activist programming being promoted to new Arts and Science students through events connected to QPIRG Concordia’s 2026 “DisOrientation.” [1]
The assignment places Zorchinsky in a unique position. She is not reporting on an unfamiliar institution from the outside. She is examining the political culture of her own university, where she has previously spoken publicly about hostility surrounding Israel and the growing influence of radical activism on Canadian campuses. [2]
Her central question is simple but important: are new students being welcomed to Concordia as independent thinkers, or are they being introduced immediately to a predetermined activist worldview?
From Concordia student to campus reporter
Zorchinsky’s report represents a natural progression from campus witness to journalist. In October 2025, she appeared in another Rebel News report about a House of Commons conference addressing foreign threats in Canada. Identified as a Concordia student, she spoke about security concerns and the political climate she had observed on campus. [2]
She had also attracted public attention after describing an incident in which passport-office employees initially refused to list Israel as her country of birth. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada later said that no policy change had been made, indicating that the incident was likely the result of a frontline error. [3]
With her first report for Rebel News, Zorchinsky is no longer appearing only as the subject of someone else’s coverage. She is asking the questions, examining the organizations involved and presenting evidence from the campus she knows personally.
That background gives the report a perspective that an outside journalist might not possess. It also makes transparency especially important: her work combines reporting with a clearly critical view of the activist culture she is investigating.
What students are being offered
Rebel News describes the program as featuring workshops on “Palestinian Liberation,” “Anti-Colonial Harm Reduction,” “Sex Work” and “Grassroots Militancy.” [1]
QPIRG’s public announcement uses somewhat different wording. It lists naloxone training, sex workers’ rights, tatreez embroidery, Palestinian solidarity in Montreal and grassroots journalism among the subjects included in DisOrientation 2026. [4]
This distinction should be clear. DisOrientation is not Concordia University’s complete official orientation program, nor is there evidence that every incoming Arts and Science student must attend these workshops. It is an alternative orientation organized by QPIRG Concordia and promoted within the wider frosh environment.
However, it is not disconnected from recognized student institutions. QPIRG says the 2026 program was organized in collaboration with the Concordia Student Union, the Arts and Science Federation of Associations, Rad Frosh McGill, CUTV, Stella, Convergence Journal, Checkpoint and CACTUS Montreal. [4]
Education or political recruitment?
Universities should allow discussion of difficult and controversial subjects. Palestinian nationalism, Israeli security, colonial history, sex-work policy, harm reduction and political militancy can all be examined within a serious academic environment.
Zorchinsky’s report raises a different concern: whether these events are designed to encourage open examination or guide students toward a particular political conclusion.
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A workshop framed around “Palestinian liberation,” for example, may begin from an ideological position rather than a neutral question. Students may receive strong criticism of Israel without comparable attention to Jewish self-determination, Israeli civilian experiences, antisemitism, Hamas or the history of repeated regional conflicts.
The same concern applies to expressions such as “anti-colonial” and “grassroots militancy.” These are not politically neutral terms. They carry assumptions about power, legitimacy and resistance. When introduced during frosh, they can shape how newcomers understand the university community before those students have encountered competing perspectives.
Supporters would argue that traditional orientation often ignores social inequality and that DisOrientation creates space for causes excluded from conventional programming. QPIRG openly states that its work is rooted in anti-oppression politics and that it seeks to support grassroots activism. [5]
The organization is therefore not hiding its mission. The question is whether student associations cooperating with it provide equivalent space for students who reject its political framework.
Independent from Concordia, but funded by students
QPIRG Concordia describes itself as independent from the university administration and student unions. It is also a student-funded organization operating within the Concordia community. Its published history says that a 1989 referendum established student fee-levy funding, with graduate students later voting to join the organization. [5]
This arrangement complicates institutional responsibility. Concordia University does not necessarily approve or design every workshop. Nevertheless, QPIRG uses the Concordia name, operates within its campus environment and collaborates with organizations representing students.
Zorchinsky’s reporting draws attention to this structure. The political messaging is not simply coming from a private activist gathering somewhere in Montreal. It is reaching newcomers through organizations connected to university life and student funding.
Why her first report matters
Zorchinsky’s debut is significant because it brings a student’s direct experience into a national conversation about Canadian universities.
Campus controversies are often reported only after demonstrations become violent, speakers are disrupted or Jewish students report feeling unsafe. Her report looks earlier in the process, at the moment when students are introduced to campus organizations and political language.
First-year students arrive looking for friendship, identity and belonging. Groups participating in orientation possess considerable influence because they meet students before most have developed their own campus networks.
This does not mean students are incapable of thinking independently. It means organizers should be honest about whether an event is social, educational or activist. Newcomers deserve to know whether they are entering an open discussion or a space built around an established political position.
The test of genuine inclusion
The controversy is not about prohibiting political speech. Students supporting Palestinian causes, sex workers’ rights or anti-colonial movements have the right to organize. Students who disagree must have the same right to challenge those movements without being treated as enemies of the campus community.
If pro-Palestinian organizations receive access to orientation-related spaces, would an openly Zionist student organization receive comparable cooperation? Would an Israeli student who challenges the language of “liberation” be welcomed into the discussion? Would organizers accept disagreement about harm reduction, prostitution law or militant protest?
An institution cannot claim intellectual diversity if only one answer is considered morally acceptable.
By beginning her reporting career with a story rooted in her own university, Zorchinsky has chosen a subject she understands personally. Her first Rebel News report does more than document a list of workshops. It asks who shapes the political introduction offered to new students, how those organizations are funded and whether dissenting voices receive an equal place.
That is a question not only for Concordia, but for universities across Canada.
Watch Anastasia Zorchinsky’s full first report: “DisOrientation Week: What’s Really Happening on Canadian Campuses” .
Sources and Further Reading Anastasia Zorchinsky, Rebel News, “‘DisOrientation’ Week: What’s Really Happening on Canadian Campuses,” September 2, 2026 . Rebel News, “Inside the House of Commons ‘Foreign Threats Conference,’” October 30, 2025 . Rebel News, “Passport Officials Refused to List Israel as Birthplace for Israeli-Canadian Woman Born in Israel,” November 18, 2025 . QPIRG Concordia, “Welcome to DisOrientation 2026!” . QPIRG Concordia, “Mandate & History” .