HYY’s Board rejects HAPSU ry’s appeal against the decision to remove the association from HYY’s organisation register

On 4 March 2019, HAPSU (Helsingin Akateemiset Perussuomalaiset, ‘Helsinki academic Finns Party’) released a statement titled ‘Suomen yliopistojen kuuluukin tuntua suomalaisilta’ (‘Finnish universities should feel Finnish’). HYY’s Financial Committee decided to process the case because it suspected that HAPSU’s actions had been in violation of HYY’s Equality Plan and that HAPSU had thus also violated the rules for organisations operating under HYY.

HAPSU was asked to submit a written clarification on the matter, and they were also heard in the Financial Committee’s meeting in April. Based on HAPSU’s statement and the hearing, the Financial Committee concluded that the association is not committed to comply with HYY’s Equality Plan and that it has no intention to alter its activities in order to comply with the plan. For these reasons, the Financial Committee decided, in its meeting on 21 May 2019, to remove HAPSU ry from HYY’s organisation register. According to HYY’s Constitution, organisations have the right to appeal the Financial Committee’s decisions to HYY’s Board within 14 days of having been notified of the decision.

In its meeting on 15 August 2019, the Board decided to reject the appeal and thus uphold the Financial Committee’s decision to remove the association from HYY’s organisation register.

Removing an organisation from under HYY means that the organisation is no longer entitled to use organisational services provided by HYY, such as meeting and festive premises. As organisations that belong to political parties are not entitled to HYY’s grants, HAPSU has not received any financial support from the Student Union. Regardless of the decision, members of HAPSU who are also members of the Student Union can still become candidates in HYY’s Representative Council elections and participate in the Student Union’s activities. An association removed from the organisation register may reapply to operate under HYY. In such cases, a reevaluation on whether the association fulfils the conditions for being accepted into the organisation register will be undertaken.

The association has been informed of the decision, and the justification memorandum will be sent to the relevant parties on Tuesday 20 August along with the list of decisions from the meeting.

Further information:
Aaro Riitakorpi
Secretary General
040 0816 426