Uniarts Student Activism

3.7.2025 0 Like 0 kommenttia Sointu Saraste

Graduating Theatre Academy Student Ambassador, Sointu Saraste introduces the Uniarts Student Activism movement and reflects back on the student occupation of the Sörnäinen campus lobby ‘Kookos’ in the Autumn of 2023.

Theatre Academy Student Ambassador Sointu Saraste introduces the Uniarts Student Activism movement and reflects back on the student occupation of the Sörnäinen campus lobby ‘Kookos’ in the Autumn of 2023.

What is Uniarts Student Activism?

Throughout the two years of my MA studies, there has been a vibrant, fierce, and compassionate student movement to stand against injustice. There is not one single solid activist group, but instead, people have organised and come together when needed. Although one group, Uniarts Student for Palestine, has been quite organised and united for over a year now. Otherwise, students have been doing activism when it suits their schedules. In this university, students tend to be very busy with different projects, so it’s not often very simple to come together and organise. 

Student occupation Autumn 2023

I started my MA Dance Performance studies in August 2023, and very briefly, already the following month, a student occupation started in the lobby of the Theatre Academy, on Sörnäinen campus. It started on the 21.9.2023 and ended on the 12.10.2023. The occupation was a part of nationwide occupation protests and was in close collaboration with the University of Helsinki student occupation. The occupations were protesting against the Finnish government’s cuts and asking for universities to stand with their students and defend the students’ rights. During the occupation, there were a dozen tents and mattresses, and all kinds of banners all over the lobby.

The demands of the occupation were:

1. No cuts in housing benefits. The living conditions of all students must be improved
2. No tuition fees for anyone!
3. Mental health services for students must be guaranteed
4. The universities must stand behind our demands and show solidarity. We demand that the university:
   • Takes a stand against racist immigration policies affecting international students
   • Defends the right of students to concentrate on their studies regardless of their nationality or income

(@opiskelijatleikkauksiavastaan, 19.9.2023, Instagram)

Even though the reason for the occupation was serious and infuriating, being at the occupation brought me a lot of joy. It was exciting and fun to sleep in a tent at the university. I met a lot of people and got to know people from various study programmes. The occupation gave me a sense of belonging to the campus, and even after the occupation, I have felt at home there. During the occupation, we had a warm communal spirit. There was a meeting every day to discuss practicalities. We received leftover food that we shared with each other. There were all kinds of programmes happening; dance classes, gigs, moment to paint nails, speeches, movie screenings…

Uniarts students for Palestine

The group that acts in solidarity with Palestine has also close links to parallel groups of different universities, and with Sumud- The Finnish Palestine Network. The Uniarts Students for Palestine have, for example:

• Hang banners on the Sörnäinen campus
• Translated Gaza monologues in Finnish
• Participated in the University of Helsinki student camp that demanded an academic boycott of Israel
• Demanded that Uniarts join the academic boycott of Israel 
  • Which the university agreed to in November 2024!
• Joined and organised demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine 
• Invited Syksy Räsänen to give a lecture about the power and importance of the academic boycott

They have been meeting regularly and have thought of different ways to show solidarity for Palestine and to bring Palestine into discussion in Uniarts. 

The university needs to remember the students in decision-making

This spring, 2025, the Uniarts has declared that it will remove the right from students to send mass emails on the university’s Outlook mailing lists. Instead, it offers a new platform, VivaEngage, for student communication. Uniarts also declared that it will reduce the opening hours of the campuses by removing the possibility to use the premises at night. These decisions have awakened a lot of discussion and protesting, too. A group of students organised a protest ‘night school’ in April. In June, there was a ‘Festival of emails’ organised to celebrate the last days of being able to send emails to everyone.

Future?

I think it is important that the students gather and organise against things that don’t feel right. One person can’t do much alone, but a group can. The Uniarts as an institution holds political power, and if it doesn’t use it well, it is great that the students remind it of that power and persuade it to use its power correctly. However, I don’t want to paint a picture of the institution as the enemy of the students; it’s not my point. But sometimes the institution needs to hear and see certain issues from the perspective of the students in order to realise what the right thing to do is. 

I think there might be a positive evolution starting in the discussion culture between the Uniarts institution and the student body. During this last academic year, there have been a couple of ‘community days’ held in the Theatre Academy, in which the staff and students can come together to discuss subjects that are on their minds. I hope more similar kinds of opportunities for a low-threshold discussion between the staff and students will pop up. 

For new students: follow @uniartsstudentactivism on Instagram to get in touch with the student activists and to stay up to date with upcoming events

Last words

Thank you, Student Activists of Uniarts! <3 You are the heart of this institution.

Free free Palestine!🇵🇸

Uniarts, take care of the international students, economically and in all other ways. The current government’s politics are very harsh, and our international friends and artist colleagues need all the support and solidarity. I wish someday there will be no tuition fees for anyone…

Peace, love, and goodbye, Uniarts

Sointu Saraste, MA Dance Performance

Cover photo taken by Pauli Patinen