Creativity in Action: On the Street

1970 The administrative reform of higher education

With the support of the Minister of Education Johannes Virolainen, the democratization of universities, the empowerment of students and other staff, and universal and equal suffrage in university decision-making were pursued. At the request of SYL, the student unions organized extensive lecture strikes to push for administrative reform towards a more democratic university.

Source: https://syl.fi/historia/

During the 1970's there were also pamphlets and flyers related to student activism in the pro-Soviet “taistolaisuus” era.

Taistoism was an orthodox pro-soviet tendency in the mostly Eurocommunist Finnish communist movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The Taistoists were an interior opposition group in the community Party of Finland, named after their leader Taisto Sinisalo whose first name means "a battle", "a fight" or "a struggle". Sinisalo's supporters constituted a party within a party, but pressure from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union prevented the party from formally splitting. The term taistolaisuus was a derogatory nickname invented by Helsingin Sanomat and was never used by the group themselves. 

Perspektiivi magazine was a publication by socialist students of The University of Art & Design and their student Union TOKYO.

Large student demonstrations began in 1991 to protest the government proposals to introduce tuition fees for university students. Student unions across Finland took to the streets and the Teekkari spirit of bringing visual imagery to the public to perform what was at stake continued in the form of several Tempaus.

In 1992 The study support for university students was reformed but it continued to be something student unions would watch and hold the line on. Following the solidarity of demonstrations across universities, student support was thoroughly reformed. With the reform, the tuition fee increased and became taxable, the guardianship increase was abolished, the subsidized loans became market-based and the income and assets of the parents and spouse as well as their own assets were no longer taken into account when granting the study grant. University support months were introduced.

Source: https://syl.fi/historia/

In 1993 SYL crofts the government's tuition fee proposal

In 1993, the Council of State made a decision in principle in favor of tuition fees for university studies, but SYL managed to bury the decision. Tuition fees were opposed in a demonstration that gathered thousands of students, as well as other political means.

Source: https://syl.fi/historia/