Disrupting from the inside out: why equity work starts in the hallways

I reflect on quiet acts of disruption that challenge exclusion, support racialised students and push for real change, which happens where it is not usually seen.

By Hanna Cox

At LCC, we talk a lot about “creative disruption.” But I’ve come to realise that some of the most powerful acts of disruption don’t happen on a stage — they happen in the quiet corners of our campuses: in hallway conversations, shared documents, mentoring calls and WhatsApp chats with students trying to stay afloat.

As a LCC Changemaker, my work isn’t about heroic gestures. It’s about making systems less hostile, less confusing, less exclusive — especially for racialised students navigating a world that rarely gives them space to rest, let alone thrive.

Inspired by Kevin J Brazant’s framework of “Disrupting the Discourse,” I’ve started to ask different questions:

  • Who gets left out of the curriculum?
  • Whose discomfort is protected in the classroom?
  • What does true co-creation look like in a university still shaped by hierarchy?

These aren’t rhetorical questions. They’re real tensions I hold daily — and it’s in the holding of those tensions that real changemaking begins.