Done and dusted – now to rise again

The debt situation of HYY’s property finances has been resolved. After historic years of crisis and our move away from the New Student House, we can finally focus on building something new again. 

The Student Union has landed from the crisis of property finances into a new normal. Our foremost thoughts now are no longer about our own challenges but the alarming political situation for students and the actions of Orpo’s government – a ‘gift’ that keeps on giving. Letters to the editor in newspapers are full of discussion on the future of free education, and students are trying to scrape by their first summer without housing allowance. The main themes of our advocacy work for the parliamentary elections held next spring are thus very clear.

After the Representative Council addressed the financial statements of property finances the week befote last, the overall arrangements of HYY’s property finances’ debt situation has now been officially concluded. The Student Union is free of debt and Ylva Services Ltd is net debt-free. The Student Union retains a majority share of Domus Gaudium, Ylva Services Ltd, the Aleksis Kivi Memorial Cottage, its art assets and some prized possessions that are valuable for student life, such as the tables used for academic dinner parties in Alina.

Even though packing moving boxes and carrying HYY’s flag down the steps of the New Student House was bittersweet, finding a solution last autumn was worth every drawn-out meeting, puddle of tears on the bathroom floor and weekend phone call. We did not have to test whether a student union can go bankrupt through practice. We have gone from the captains of an uncontrollably big debt vessel to the happy owners of a debt-free sailing boat. Special thanks are due to Mika Perkiö, who just concluded his term as the Student Union’s finance director, for guiding us through the crisis. The last year and a half were like an adventure game with a new Balrog waiting for us on each level.

Avoiding bankruptcy is not likely to ever fully take away our sorrow and shared trauma for losing the student houses. We are sure that people will be looking back on this saga for as long as the occupation of the Old Student House, albeit in a very different mood. However, no amount of melancholy has managed to stop students from celebrating the past, and no amount of tears has managed to put a damper on the partying taking place in Staircase A that we at HYY’s Central Office have heard every night.

After all the revelry, we have sent a moderate number of requests for clarification to organisations that decided to leave a physical mark in the history of the student houses. Thank you to all organisations and everyone helping us with the move for the past spring – the partying and the move to DG have both gone off without much of a hitch, and everyone has approached any problems with a sense of humour and by helping one another.

Amid the crisis of property finances, people in HYY also worked hard for the purpose the Student Union ultimately exists: persistent advocacy work for students, memorable events and services our members find meaningful. On behalf of the Student Union, we want to thank all organisations, employees and others in HYY who steadily carried on the Student Union’s regular activities despite all the gnawing uncertainty.

Done and dusted – now we rise again. We can now reflect on what we students want to be in the future and what the Finland we are building looks like in 2050. We also want to invite others to join us in rising again: the level of education, the study grant, young people’s faith in the future, Finland’s economy, the voter turnout, the level of literacy and appreciation for education.

Rising from the shadows of the real estate business, our new main star will be UniCafe, which will continue to provide hungry students with high-quality food that is produced responsibly. Our restaurant business has been performing well and provides us with some long overdue stability. It also gives us the chance to finally ask ourselves what we want the Student Union’s assets and business operations to look like ten years from now? What about 30 years from now? If the past is anything to go by, the most vibrant place in downtown Helsinki will have moved to Mechelininkatu 100 years from now.

In Leppäsuo, HYY’s nearly 160-year history continues under circumstances that include something new as well as something old. The student community will get to show its strength by building a new kind of student culture at Domus Gaudium when the operation of perhaps the most interdisciplinary student house in the world begins in earnest. For freshers, DG will become the place they call home during their studies: a place where they can hang out late into the night, sing, laugh, have meetings and form lifelong bonds of friendship and love.

Emil Aarnio

Chair of the Board

Paula Karhunen

Secretary General