Whilst I said a while ago I wasn’t going to ever write anything work related on here, I’ve decided to change that rule. I won’t write about any that is a current ongoing issue or detail current successes, but ideas related to SU’s and management will appear here. At least until we get the AMSU ideas blog sorted.
So, onto business. Whilst I was at AMSU conference this week I went to a great session by NUS’ Sarah Wayman about Students in the Community and one of the issues that came up was about the image of “students”. I’ve put it that way because I think (and it was backed up by other people in the session) that when concerned members of the community talk about students, they mean the stereotypical, 18-22 year old, white, middle class student.
Over the past ten, fifteen years there has been an explosion in student numbers and along with that has come an explosion in the diversity of students. I think the time has come for someone (maybe NUS, maybe individual unions) to run a campaign aimed at those local communities that surround university areas, that explains in simple terms with clear statistics that there is this diversity of students. It can be as simple as postcards that we post through doors - the front of which is a picture of one of the many types of students that now populate that our institutions. There could be different cards with different pictures on the front and on the back, all of the individual student models together as a group with links to further information.
People might think “Well, what’s the point in doing this? It won’t stop the problems some students cause in the community”, and that is of course slightly true. However, what I’ve come to know is that in order to build a productive relationship with concerned residents and local people, you need to start from an honest position and make available as much information as you can. It doesn’t cloud the issue, it clarifies it.
There’s a further reason though. The stereotypical image of what a student looks like is something which is reinforced through the cultural cues we receive - through TV shows, through newspapers, etc. It is our job as people who work with students on a regular basis to challenge this stereotype - accepting that, yes some of our members are 18-22, white, and middle class. But not all of them. And more and more, its actually less of them.
Unless you work at Leeds obviously….
Here endth today’s sermon.
Tags: campaign, community, students, university
