Live at Leeds
It is always interesting to see The Bulletin’s annual “What’s New” edition come together, highlighting new and different initiatives taking place in college unions. This year, I am especially excited about what’s new in ACUI, which is that we recently added 116 new students’ unions from the United Kingdom through a partnership with NUS Charity. This allows more college union professionals in the UK to take advantage of all ACUI’s benefits, and our international member population to grow substantially overnight. How wonderful to have a much larger and more engaged international constituent to expand idea sharing across different cultures with similar issues on college campuses. The NUS partnership and expansion of our UK members have long-term implications for the future of the Association as well as international relations across the profession. Individually, I’m hopeful that members will have a similar experience to me in making new friends in the UK.
At the 2012 Annual Conference in Boston, one of my mentors, Manny Cunard, said I had to meet this energetic union director from the University of Leeds. When a mentor asks you to do something, you do it. So, I sat down with Aidan Grills, chief executive of Leeds University Union (LUU). We had a great conversation where we talked about the operations of our respective buildings (I was at the University of Michigan at the time), challenges we were each facing, and the similarities and differences of college unions in the United States and the United Kingdom. As we finished the conversation, Aidan said he would love to visit Michigan sometime to expand our intercultural exchange and to learn first-hand how we operate. Of course, I said I would be happy to host him but never expected it to materialize.
A year and a half later, Aidan, along with his union board president, travelled to Ann Arbor for a week of learning and engagement. They had a full schedule, meeting with staff and students from across the university, touring our buildings, and at the end of the week, presenting a session about Leeds University Union to the Division of Student Affairs. On a personal note, Aidan joined our family for dinner at our home, where his English accent and good humor were a highlight for my kids.
Three years later, I had the opportunity to visit Aidan and his team at Leeds. It is an outstanding union, with high student engagement, strong retail operations, and organizational values based on inclusivity and empowering students. It was clear to me that staff and student leaders are trying to realize the LUU vision of ensuring students love their time at Leeds. While touring the building, I was impressed with the overall high energy and the intentional efforts to create smaller communities to support a sense of belonging for students. The union was also in the midst of a major renovation when I was there, which is always exciting for me to put on a hard hat and visualize the new space.
At one point, Aidan brought me into a large dining space, which I thought was somewhat unimpressive and could benefit from a renovation. He said it was called the Refectory, and it was where The Who’s Live at Leeds concert was performed, subsequently producing their infamous live album. I’m familiar with lots of folklore in college unions, famous people speaking or performing. For example, in front of the Michigan Union, we had a bronze marker where JFK first described his idea for the Peace Corps. However, maybe because it was unexpected, I was blown away by the idea of this being the place where Live at Leeds took place. It wasn’t a high production performing arts venue, but rather a dining hall that must have gone through a major transformation to support such a rock band. Maybe there was also some nostalgia, thinking about the album that I owned and listened to growing up being performed there. I tried to envision “My Generation” being sung in this venue, packed with students screaming and identifying with the song’s message of rebelling against societal expectations.
Over the years, Aidan and I have stayed in touch as professional colleagues and have become good friends. We see each other at the ACUI Annual Conference, I’ve offered advice on unions for him to visit in the United States, and he organized meetings for me with UK chief executives when I visited last summer. We respect each other, we’ve learned a lot from each other, and we know that if one of us is calling to ask for a favor, the answer is going to be yes.
The relationship that Aidan and I built together over a decade is a microcosm of what I hope transpires from the larger partnership being built between ACUI and NUS Charity. We are at a foundational moment that will shape both organizations for years to come, and the greatest benefit will come from the cross-cultural learning, unique professional perspectives, and innovative approaches that will be shared among members. In the end, we are building a more global college union community of practice, which I hope will drive engagement and dialogue, collaborative projects, and new friends to welcome to the annual conference and each other’s campuses.
