Fortunately, the Equal Marriage Act is once again being debated. In AYY, this became visible already on 20 Feb, when the citizens’ initiative was submitted to the Parliament for consideration. On that day, the student unions across Finland posted love-themed images to social media, which were marked with the hashtag #rakkauskuuluukaikille (lovebelongstoeveryone).
In addition, AYY started a card campaign one week ago, in which students can write their greetings in favour of the Equal Marriage Act to a member of parliament of their choice. AYY collects the cards and delivers them to the members of parliament. As expected, the card campaign has been a small and significant way of influence and a much talked about topic.
Along with the card campaign, questions have been raised in relation to AYY’s role as an organisation which has influence and prepares statements. Aalto University Student Union’s strategy, approved in the Representative Council meeting 12/2012, determines four organisation principles, one of which is ”AYY as an influencer”. AYY wants to be a responsible and social actor, which ”also raises difficult social problems and offers daring solutions for them”. On this basis, the Board has decided to participate in Tahdon2013 campaign in the year of 2013. AYY wishes that all Finnish citizens are equal before the law and that is why we openly present our view.
One of the most popular questions related to the card campaign seems to be why AYY uses its resources to such non-core activities. The card campaign took approximately five of AYY’s personnel hours. This is quite a small percentage of the personnel hours of a single week, let alone the personnel hours of an entire year.
In addition, in AYY’s viewpoint it is sometimes important to implement small projects, which are related to the acknowledgment of the special needs of minority groups (e.g. students with families, adult students). The card campaign is this kind of a small project. Also, the reality is that AYY’s employees, board and volunteers mainly focus on core activities, such as the promotion of better studies and student life, the so-called ”invisible work”.
Hopefully, the previously mentioned issues answered even some of the questions raised. Finally, I could summarise the main idea, which is hopefully endorsed by everyone: our students deserve fair and equal treatment.
On behalf of AYY,
Pauliina Mäkkeli
Board Member, Social Policy and Sports
Aalto University Student Union (AYY)