Dear association members,

as you may have noticed, this year the student associations have been visible in the media in an unpleasant context. Drugging attempts among the students of the University of Helsinki have received particular attention – the latest case took place in the beginning of September. However, we have not yet found out whether the drugging attempts have been made by students or persons outside the student community.

Common safety is an issue which should not be compromised under any circumstances. Therefore, possible drugging attempts and other cases of disturbance are matters that should be taken into account in AYY’s associations. Even though we have not heard of any cases in AYY, even one drugging attempt or act of violence in student parties is too much. You should always report to the police any drugging attempts or suspicions of a crime against a person’s health. In this way, we can together show that we do not tolerate any kind of harassment or violence in the student union or student association events.

In situations that threaten the participants’ health, you should always ensure the safety of victims and call the emergency number. We hope that you never hesitate to report danger situations to the emergency centre. We also hope that all dangerous situations and any suspicions of drugging would be reported to AYY, so that we can together make sure that the problems will not spread any further.

A training session related to event security will be organised in this year’s association training session in November-December.

Your contact persons in AYY:

Ahto Harmo, Specialist, Organisational Affairs and Communications, ahto.harmo@ayy.fi
Lauri Jurvanen, Specialist, Social Policy, Harassment Contact Person, lauri.jurvanen@ayy.fi
Elli-Noora Kaurila, Specialist, Advocacy, Harassment Contact Person, elli-noora.kaurila@ayy.fi
You can also confidentially contact: hairinta-nainen@ayy.fi or hairinta-mies@ayy.fi