Helsinki University Greens’ Election Program 2022

The environmental crisis is the biggest threat of our time and the fight against climate change and the impairment of biodiversity should be reflected as a cross -cutting theme in all decisions of HYY, the University of Helsinki and the City of Helsinki.

We live in the middle of a mental health crisis. Students' mental health is historically low. The mental health debt caused by Covid-19 should be caught upr.

Equality is never ready. HYY should be antiracist, antiableist and LGBTQ+ -friendly and actively oppose discriminating activities and structures in the student union, university and society at large. Funding for education and research must be fully secured.

Education and research are the cornerstones of a functioning welfare state. Academic freedom to learn and explore must be cherished  - education must not be exclusively a pawn in the world of business and politics.

HYY is distant to its ordinary members. HYY must make its activities more open and support its members both directly and indirectly through its member organizations.

HYY as a pioneer in the fight against the sustainability crisis

Sustainability

  • The university must take into account the sustainability of all its activities and ensure its carbon neutrality target by 2030 and the stop of the nature loss by 2035. HYY must strive to minimize its emissions and to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality the necessary emissions should be compensated.

  • HYY's development cooperation budget must be raised gradually to 1.5 percent (now 0.7%) of the HYY budget and sustainable development must be at the heart of the use of development cooperation funds.

  • HYY must actively participate in public debate on ecological sustainability, climate change and responsibility.

  • HYY drives sustainable development boldly through the top of its own company.

  • Organizations should be encouraged to take into account ecological sustainability in their operations by various means. Examples of means include competitions and immediate financial subsidies.

City

  • Cycling opportunities must be facilitated in Helsinki. Inter-campus cycling connections need to be improved and city bikes must be used with HSL seasonal ticket. The bike network needs to be developed in general and the cycle paths clarified. City bikes should be available all year round.

  • Public transport must be made more attractive for students. Public transport student discount must be returned to 50 % and it should be able to purchase for more than one month at a time. The diiscount must also be available without a phone. Student discount should also be extended to one-off tickets. The metro should be operated round-the-clock.

  • The center campus of the university must be made car-free and congestion charges must be introduced as one way to reduce car traffic emissions.

Responsible and brave Ylva!

  • Ylva must be an exemplary, bold and responsible player who strives for a good and sustainable result. The selection of the Ylva partners must comply with the principles of responsibility and the circular economy.

  • Unicafe must be primarily for HYY members, but it is desirable to expand its clientele to other groups as well. Unicafe needs to serve a variety of students during extensive opening hours and continue with bold service methods. The takeaway option must continue to be maintained.

  • Unicafe's vegan food supply must be expanded by providing at least two vegan options every day, taking into account different food restrictions and must continue to be the cheapest option. The target should be set to open a fully plant-based restaurant.

  • Ylva will not continue to invest in the weapons, tobacco, gambling or alcohol industry, or in fossil fuel companies and will not rent its premises to these companies. The group should favor sustainable investments and partners as possible for the environment and to stop investing in animal production. In addition, attention should be paid to the rental of real estate and the sustainability of the construction projects.

  • Ylva must publish its results with indicators that measure overall sustainaibility.

Welfare repair

Health and the ability to study

What is the intrinsic value of everyday life that burns students and pays unreasonably both humanly and financially? Students' lives for years have been coping with crisis - this cannot continue.

Now we need to work to enable students’ well-being: low-threshold mental health services, seamless contact with health care, and fair investments in student life. During high inflation, students as a special group of society deserve support.

  • The resources of The FSHS are inadequate. Its operating conditions for the provision of quality and accessible services must be guaranteed.

  • Students are entitled to health care and individual guidance in studying and coping with everyday life. The university and the FSHS must provide clear information about seeking health care services. HYY must act as a spokesman for the services provided by FSHS and the university.

  • Students’ well-being, mental capacity in everyday life and mental health in general are in crisis. All activities of the university and the Student Union must take a comprehensive account of well-being and pay special attention to study stress and mental health support.

  • The number of study psychologists should be increased in order to access the reception within two weeks of appointment. In addition, low-threshold multilingual discussion assistance needs to be increased.

  • Free prevention and access to low -threshold mental health services must be enabled. The right of the student to seek public health must also be safeguarded. The wellbeing areas of the FSHS, the City of Helsinki and the wellbeing services counties in Uusimaa must work together for the student.

  • The study facilities must support ergonomic work and enable utility exercise during the study day. Students must have versatile and affordable sports facilities.

  • The operations of Pikku HYY and Helsinki’s funding to it should be secured so the family students can get flexible day care also in the future.

  • At least 700 new student homes should be built in Helsinki a year, near campus and good public transport links. Students also have the right to live comfortably. Communal living needs to be made easy and achieved for students.

Livelihood

  • Insufficient social security for students must be corrected by raising the student grant by at least 100 euros.The support months of study allowance should be increased and its two-tier structure should be abandoned so that it fits flexibly into different study paths. Study support should be transferred under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

  • Students’ indebtness is growing exponentially, which accelerates the inequality of students from different socio-economic backgrounds. That's why the loan-based nature of the student allowance must be abandoned and an interest rate ceiling must be set for the student loan.

  • Housing subsidy should be transferred to a more individual examination.

  • The meal subsidy for university students must be tied to the index of general cost development, and Kela's subsidy for student meals must be automatically increased accordingly.

  • In the long term, free and sufficient basic income for students is the best solution to secure their livelihood.

  • The livelihood of international students and the equal access to health and mental health services must be ensured.

Equality as an intrinsic value

  • Equality must be a core value in the operations of HYY and its organizations. The possibility of influencing belongs to all students regardless of their socio-economic, gender, ethnic or any other person-related background . HYY must act in accordance with intersectional feminism, i.e. it must recognize in the equality work the different background factors and their accumulation that influence the position of students.

  • HYY is constantly striving to be a safer space for all its members. HYY's premises and the activities of HYY organizations must follow the principles of safer space.

  • HYY must declare itself anti-racist. HYY should actively oppose racism and closely monitor the implementation of the anti-racist action program. HYY should promote anti-racist measures at the university, train its member organizations from anti-racism, and intervene in the racist practices and structures of the Student Union, its member organizations or university.

  • HYY must declare itself anti-ableist. HYY should actively oppose discrimination based on disabilities and closely monitor the implementation of the anti-ableist action program. All facilities provided by HYY and otherwise used in its operations must be accessible. HYY actively pays attention to the accessibility of its own activities and promotes accessibility at the university, for example, by actively demanding special support for those in need.

  • HYY should actively consider rainbow minorities in its own activities, and promote rainbow rights in its advocacy work at the university and more broadly in society. Among other things, HYY must dismantle the stereotypes of gender and sexuality in its own activities and promote the enactment of a trans act based on self-determination.

  • HYY must take into account the different socio-economic backgrounds and situations of the students, for example in terms of participation fees for events. HYY should stick to its goal of waiving its membership fee by 2025. However, the objective should be considered, taking into account the realities of the Student Union's operational economy.

Education must be given the credit

  • The university must be autonomous and independent of the state and business, which is safeguarded by the university with adequate funding and self-sufficiency. In the national funding model of universities, basic funding for research must be increased. The nationwide funding model must not be based on qualifications, but on the amount of study credits and qualitative criteria such as quality of teaching, student well-being and influence.

  • New starting positions must be fully funded. Increasing starting places and additional responsibilities for universities without their full funding is practically an effective cut in education.

  • The university community must have the power to decide on their own affairs, and students should be heard in decision-making bodies. HYY should support the work of student representatives by training them and encourage students from different backgrounds to apply for student representatives. International students must also have an equal opportunity to influence the university administration regardless of the level of administration or the role of the participant. In addition to Finnish and Swedish, the agenda and minutes of the governing bodies must be obtained in English.

  • Academic freedom to learn and explore should be cherished. The extent of the degree should not be restricted, but the university should encourage students to educate themselves outside their own degree program. Eternal study rights must be restored!

  • Studies must be flexible to take into account different learners and different life situations. Course performance opportunities should be diversified. Hybrid studies should continue to be enabled, and pedagogically unjustified presence must be abandoned.

  • Higher education must be truly free. All course material should be free and easy to reach. Students outside the EU/EEA tendering fees must be abandoned.

  • The quality of the teaching should not be compromised! The university's teaching staff must be offered pedagogical education to improve and maintain the quality of teaching.

  • The university must guarantee students with sufficient support services such as study guidance and mobility and career services. The university needs to train skilled guiding teachers and ensure the functionality of HOPS guidance and accessibility for all students.

Student Union for its members

Services and communication

  • The Student Union must communicate boldly and take a stand on matters that are important to the members and actors.

  • The events and activities must continue to be communicated in three languages.

  • HYY must make itself, its advocacy and activities known to its members through communication.

  • In communication, the Student Union should reach new students and tutors to allow freshmen to get involved right from the start of their studies.

  • The Student Union provides its members with support for student life, such as Pikku HYY and Legal Aid. These services need to be secured and communicated sufficiently and clearly. The University Union must also actively listen to and respond to the service needs of its members.

A better student and event culture

  • HYY encourages its organizations to take into account the well-being of its members, for example by setting up a welfare officer and a harassment liaison officer.

  • Substance and faculty organizations are doing significant advocacy at the university. HYY supports organizations in this important job through various training and non-governmental subsidies.

  • The cuts made during the 2020 season to the direct (e.g. project grant) and indirect organization subsidies (e.g. student magazine grant) must be fully canceled.

  • In particular, the communality of students and especially freshmen must be taken care of. The Student Union should also support especially in the communality of the classes that have suffered from Covid-19 restrictions.

  • The Student Union offers international students the opportunity to participate in events and feel that they belong to the student community. HYY and the University support international students in administrative issues, for example through the Welcome Fair event.

Hyy closer to its members!

  • HYY should be more transparent and clarify its activities for its members.

  • International students should be seen as an important and intrinsic part of the university community.

  • Membership democracy must be supported by making membership initiatives known. HYY should support the influence of members by providing help in drawing up member initiatives.

  • The financial management must be more open than before. When updating the operating grant and student magazine support, more organizations must be consulted and participated.

  • Student organizations do valuable work and act as a resource in students' daily lives. HYY should support a wide range of NGO activities and take the organizations on all campuses equally so that everyone has the opportunity to find their own community at the university.

  • Student activities should be able to participate, regardless of different life situations. Organizational activities must also have room for example for family students, and HYY must support the community and participation of family students.

  • HYY should expand its activities to all campuses by increasing its visibility and operation. The long-term goal should be to open new spaces to Viikki, Kumpula and Meilahti.