What’s your story of students’ unions and the student movement?

In organisations we can use stories to help make sense of situations, particularly of new phenomena or of change. Think about the story of the corner shop which has always been a family business and is now run by the 5^th generation Mr Jones & his wife. There is a great deal of history within the business and many stories to tell to new employees about how tradition dictates that certain things are done in a certain way. Within these stories there could be villains that once tried to throw everybody of course and ruin the business, but they were defeated by the heroic character of Mr Jones the 3^rd back in 1957.

Similarly if you think of some more well-known organisations, Steve Jobs is very much portrayed as a ‘hero’ within the Apple story, or maybe L’Oréal are seen in a particularly heroic or villainous manner after buying The Body Shop – different people will tell different stories.

For an assignment I am working on at the moment I want to explore some organisational stories within the student movement – however little or large, developed or undeveloped.

It could be a story from within your Union about the reasons behind a fundamental restructuring of staff, or the reasons for having strict election regulations after ‘that unforgettable time when…’ – these are stories that are told to people who are new to an organisation to help them make sense of the situation.

Similarly, I’m interested in stories that are constructed about the student movement. Perhaps Liam Burns was characterised during your handover as the brave hero who rescued the student movement from the clutches of the centrist student politicians, or maybe you imagined him to actually be a pesky troublemaker? I’m suggesting neither, but hopefully you get the point that the past can be conveyed in ways similar to fairy tales when you’re young.

Have a think about how situations were explained to you to help you make sense of them. If you have something then please do let me know! Drop it in a comment below or email me (dderricott@lincoln.ac.uk) and let me know the ‘plot’ and the ‘characters’. Don’t worry about it sounding odd!