Metropolia University of Applied Sciences does not allow student squatters to stay overnight in its premises without signing a premises agreement.
Cultural sector students and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences have drifted into a dispute over the terms of taking over the Arabianranta campus.
Metropolia does not allow students to freely occupy the premises and spend the night in the premises in large numbers. Metropolia requires protesters to sign premises use agreements if they intend to spend time in the premises of the educational institution also at night.
The students criticized the conditions for being tighter than in other occupied educational institutions.
Metropolia, on the other hand, appeals to the clauses of the Arabianranta lease agreement drawn up with landlord Varma.
“When you have seen what has happened in other educational institutions, you have the impression that other places have been more receptive to the students’ demands. There is no feeling here that the educational institution is on our side”, one of the representatives of the occupiers, a student Tommi Kokkonen tells HS by phone.
The occupation of the lobby of the Arabianranta campus began at Hämeentie 135 on Monday. With their takeover, Metropolia’s culture students say they will join the front of students from other educational institutions against the government’s cutting intentions.
Students disputes with the own educational institution broke out when Metropolia, citing the lease agreement, prevented squatters from staying overnight in the lobby of the Arabianranta campus.
The farm was offered overnight accommodation from the neighboring building Soiva, but only for ten occupants. The occupants also had to sign a space use agreement. The place to sleep was in the corridor, the lights were on and the security guard was there all the time.
“The space use agreements are not in accordance with the spirit of occupation. The agreements gave the impression that the educational institution is trying to hold the students responsible for the protest as individuals, so that the second party to the agreement is Metropolia as a company,” says Kokkonen.
Metropolis vice president Simo Mustila says that the school actively negotiated with the squatters on both Monday and Tuesday.
“We understand the students’ goals, but the occupied space is problematic when it is not under our control. That’s why a legally sustainable solution has been sought together with them,” says Mustila.
“We are tenants of Varma, and the lease agreement binds us to certain things. In the occupied hall of Hämeentie 135, it is possible to be in during the day, but evening and night are problems. Varma also has tenants in the same building, whose premises are accessed through the same lobby. The lobby is also an emergency exit, and the alarms go off automatically at certain times,” explains Mustila.
“That’s why Varma can’t give permission to stay in the lobby at night.”
First night, an agreement was reached between Metropolia and the students, on the basis of which ten students could spend the night under strict supervision in one of the classes of neighboring Soiva.
On Tuesday, however, the negotiations no longer led to a result: a place for the night would have been arranged for 30 students in Soiva’s lobby, but the students did not want to accept it under the conditions offered by Metropolia.
“We offered the students our Myllypuron campus, which is under our own control, as an alternative takeover target, but that didn’t happen either,” says Mustila.
On Tuesday evening, the negotiations ended at around 9:45 p.m., after which the students left the lobby of Arabianranta.
On Wednesday, the occupiers will be in the lobby again, and in the evening, according to unofficial promises, support groups from the occupiers of the University of Helsinki, the Academy of Arts and the Kallio Expressive Arts High School are coming to the place.
Overlords the premises contracts required by Metropolia are confusing.
On Monday, the students wrote along it with their teeth, but not anymore on Tuesday. Then the conditions were different than the day before, the students say.
HS got to see the premises contracts.
Inaccuracies had remained in the contract paper offered for students to sign. The start time was marked far into the future, to 2034, and the label at the bottom spoke of a thesis contract instead of a space use agreement.
Tuesday the conditions included, among other things, the obligation to compensate for damages jointly and severally, a ban on the use of intoxicants, and a ban on touching the complaint on the premises. Compliance with the conditions would have been monitored by a security guard, who would have had the right to remove squatters from the premises as soon as violations were detected.
Metropolia could have terminated the contract immediately, if there was “a minor disorder or there is a threat of such disorder” in the premises.
Deputy CEO Mustila points out that the occupiers are committed to non-violence. For this reason, according to him, there should not be any obstacles to signing the contract and, for example, committing to a compensation obligation.
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