No Association with Genocide!

In Dec 2024, the Student Union of Aalto University approved a members’ initiative demanding support of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements. Part of PACBI is the demand for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions.

However, Aalto University’s leadership continues to refuse to commit to the boycott, has not conducted a transparent ethical review of its partnerships with Israeli institutions, and has also failed to make any public statements on the matter. This is particularly significant as Aalto serves as the leading university (e.g. Babots) and joint partner in research programmes (e.g. OpenSuperQPlus) with Israeli institutions, and has not disclosed any divestment from Israeli companies in its investment portfolio. AYY’s board has also not yet fully committed to the demands of the approved members’ initiative. The lobbying efforts towards the university have not been sufficient in advocating the academic boycott.  

But there is still an opportunity — and a responsibility — to act.

Support for the BDS and PACBI movements should not be merely symbolic. In addition to promoting the academic boycott, our student union should aim to align its activities with the BDS criteria — meaning that it does not support Israeli apartheid and oppression through its purchases, partnerships, or investments. In October 2025, TaiYo (the Student Union of the University of the Arts) declared itself Finland’s first student union to be an apartheid-free zone. We can — and we should — follow this example.

Therefore, sign the election pledge!

If I am elected to the AYY’s Representative Council,

I will commit to promoting the goals of the PACBI and BDS movements regarding the severing of ties with Israel by:

  1. Ensuring that the AYY Board regularly and consistently lobbies the Aalto University’s leadership to join the academic boycott of Israeli universities.
  2. Ensuring that AYY includes information on academic boycott and the PACBI demands in the training materials and sessions for student representatives, and teaches them how to advocate for the boycott in university decision making bodies.
  3. Demanding that AYY ensures that its own purchases, funding, affiliations and investments are reviewed and aligned with the BDS principles*.
    *The BDS boycott campaign, along with many grassroots boycott campaigns, focuses on targeted boycotts of several consumer products and companies. The guidelines call for avoiding listed brands whenever reasonable alternatives exist, but recognise that the primary emphasis is boycotting and divesting from priority targets.
Sign The Pledge

No association with genocide!

Signatories

LUOVA

  • 59 – Filip Eller
  • 60 – Antero Heino
  • 69 – Mai Multimäki
  • 74 – Rosa Vanninen

Konergia

  • 102 – Oliver Kemppinen
  • 110 – Kalle Leikos
  • 112 – Jere Markkinen
  • 114 – Rasmus Mäkinen

Vapaasti Vasemmalla / Lenient Left

  • 129 – Kosmos Berg
  • 130 – Gökhan Erdem
  • 133 – Juho Karkinen
  • 134 – Lari Kauranen
  • 135 – Veikko Laitamäki
  • 136 – Irina Lehmuskoski
  • 137 – Miska Pietilä
  • 138 – Sini Saarni
  • 140 – Juno Suvijoki
  • 141 – Adrian Suvisaari
  • 142 – Lumi Tuokkola
  • 143 – Saku Turkulainen

ProArte

  • 144 – Ragnar Aminoff
  • 145 – Catalina Biemans
  • 146 – Lewis Blake-Farkas
  • 148 – Nataliia Chernova
  • 150 – Amos Ilonen
  • 152 – Brynna Justice
  • 154 – Alizée Long

Kylterirengas 1

  • 159 – Mashal Farhan
  • 166 – Eelis Kylä-Setälä
  • 244 – Marija Vasileca

Vihreämpi Aalto

  • 248 – Marcell Berta
  • 249 – Clint Casano
  • 250 – Unna Eteläinen
  • 251 – Lumi Hultkrantz
  • 253 – Leevi Härkönen
  • 254 – Isaac Jyväsjärvi
  • 255 – Alli Kolho
  • 256 – Lasse Kukkula
  • 258 – Lassi Malvikko
  • 259 – Fanni Mattsson
  • 260 – Minerva Mänttäri
  • 263 – Kide Rinne
  • 265 – Veera Saarenheimö
  • 267 – Karla Still
  • 268 – Johan van der Meer
Further information on AYY, student representatives, and the 2024 SfP members’ initiative

AYY is the Student Union of Aalto University, of which all Bachelor and Master’s students at the University are automatically members, with it being optional for PhD students. AYY is the official representative of students towards the University, and is democratically run by and for students. The Representative Council is the student union’s highest decision-making body and is elected every two years, while the Board takes care of daily operations and advocacy work of the union, and is elected every year. 

One of the student union’s most important and also legally mandated tasks is the selection of student representatives, to represent the students’ voice in the university’s decision-making bodies. Student representatives are elected for two year terms, and are an important part of university democracy. In 2025, the voting period for the RepCo elections is 30 Oct-6 Nov. (more information about that here). 

In 2024, Students for Palestine launched a members’ initiative towards AYY, to get AYY to declare its support for the BDS and PACBI movements and bind AYY to lobbying work towards Aalto University regarding this. A members’ initiative is comparable to a national-level citizens’ initiative towards parliament: members of AYY can collect signatures to address a matter, and if the minimum number of signatures is met the Board and the Representative Council have to respond. AYY’s Representative Council, approved the member initiative at its meeting 11/2024 on 12 Dec 2024, committing AYY to the academic boycott. 343 students had signed the member initiative. Now it is up to Representative Council members to make sure the initiative actually gets implemented, as AYY’s leadership has not made sufficient progress with it in almost a year since it was passed.

Further information on Aalto University’s complicity in the oppression of the Palestinian people

Aalto University has avoided its responsibility and remained silent in the face of the genocide, unofficially invoking the value of academic freedom. However, we understand that academic freedom is precisely the foundation on which the university’s autonomy is based to act in favor of human rights, justice, and higher education free from genocide.*

Aalto university currently coordinates or participates in two EU-funded Horizon Europe research projects with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on BABOTS and OpenSuperQPlus.  

Israeli academic institutions have unreservedly supported the Israeli Occupation Forces invasion and violence in Gaza, given extra scholarships to students participating in the genocide, have direct ties to the Israeli army and arms companies and have expelled, intimidated and harassed Palestinian students and academics and failed to safeguard academic freedom on campuses.

*European University Association – Academic Freedom Principles
PRINCIPLE 5
Academic freedom is both a right and a responsibility held by individual academics and academic communities. One of its central roles is to empower higher education and research communities to further knowledge and education and to enable societal advancement and responsible civic engagement.
PRINCIPLE 6
Academic freedom must be framed by rigorous scientific, professional, ethical and quality standards. This includes ethical conduct, respect for the rights of others and awareness of the impact of research on humans and their environment, as well as employment obligations.

Furter information on how cooperation with Israeli academic institutions contributes to the oppression and genocide of the Palestinian people