HYY’s properties were sold at a bargain price and thus the increase in value was transferred from students to short-term real estate developers, write HS editors Noona Bäckgren and Juha-Pekka Raeste.
November 12th the atmosphere at the meeting of the representative board of the University of Helsinki Student Union (HYY) was unusually gloomy.
A large part of the student delegation was dressed in black. Some cried.
The delegation, or HYY’s highest decision-making body, had gathered at the restaurant Domus in Kamppi to decide on significant real estate transactions. In practice, almost the entire real estate assets collected over the course of 150 years were going to be sold: New and Old Student Hall, Citytalo, Kaivotalo, Kaivokatu 12 and Hansatalo.