The reason behind the separation is the stickers that Opiskeleva Kokoomusnuoret distributed at the University of Oulu’s student union event. The stickers read “No Democrats, please”.
Oulu The university’s student union (OYY) has expelled Oulu Opiskelevat Kokoomusnuoret (OOK) from its district for a period of one year. The Student Union announced the matter in a press release published on its website on Friday.
The background to the separation is the stickers that OOK distributed at the event presenting OYY’s hobby organizations on Tuesday, October 10.
The stickers read “No Democrats, please”. They came from the national parliamentary election campaign of Kokoomusnuorten from last spring.
The text on the stickers refers to the generic “No ads, please” door sticker. During the elections, the Social Democrats went door to door.
OYY according to the release, the stickers violated people’s right to opinion and conviction. The student union’s view is that the stickers “were targeted at a single political group in an effort to exclude that group”.
The decision to dismiss was made by OYY’s board on Friday.
OK published a text on its social media channels on Sunday in which it calls the penalty “brutal” and questions whether the student union treats its member organizations equally.
According to OOK, there are organizations in the student union that have, for example, discriminatory coverall brands in their materials.
“We want to emphasize that the organization is sorry for what happened. We did not intend to offend, let alone try to exclude others, as the student union claims in its announcement. We are sorry if this has happened. We are strongly against all kinds of political discrimination,” the release says.
According to OOK, it did not get a chance to correct the situation before its temporary dismissal, as the matter was discussed with the organization in one eight-minute telephone conversation.
The chairman of Oulu’s Students’ Coalition Youth Lotta Ellonen says in his e-mail that the harshness of the punishment is unreasonable from the organization’s point of view.
“It is absurd to appeal to zero tolerance, if its implementation is considered only when someone complains,” he writes.
According to Ellonen, the student union’s announcement gives the wrong impression that the stickers were intended to exclude people. He says this completely contradicts OOK’s statement on the phone.
According to him, it was OOK’s mistake that the material to be distributed was not reviewed before the event.
“Just took the bag containing our materials from the office, went to the event and put them on display.”
Ellonen says that OOK plans to file a rectification claim against the dismissal decision. However, according to him, the instructions for filing the rectification claim were not received from the student union until Monday morning.
“In general, we are very disappointed with the way the student union has communicated the situation to us.”
Oulu chairman of the board of the university’s student union Suvi-Anna Salminen says over the phone that the decision to expel the Student Union Youth was made based on a discussion among the board of the student union.
He says the government’s decision was unanimous.
According to Salminen, the government knew at the time of the dismissal decision that the stickers distributed by OOK were Kokoomusnuorten’s parliamentary election material. He says, however, that it is essential to take into account the situation in which the stickers were distributed.
“The fact that a harassment report had been received related to the event weighed more heavily on Vaakakup. The students had found the stickers at the event to be oppressive and inappropriate,” he says.
OYY’s events follow the principles of a safer space, to which the organizations participating in the events are also committed.
“Materials have been taken into such an event that say that a certain group of people is not welcome,” says Salminen.
For example, the overall badges of the student union organizations often have a bit of cheeky humor. Why did this particular incident cross the line?
“Because here, discriminatory speech is clearly targeted at a certain religious group, i.e. it fulfills the hallmarks of discrimination.”
Salminen confirms that OOK was called before the student union board meeting where the decision was made. According to him, the student union heard OOK and the discussion took place in a good spirit.
“They have understood that the activity will be sanctioned.”
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