TREY elected a new Executive Board – the votes were evenly split, the losing list was chosen twice by lot
In the previous two years, no elections for Executive Board members were required. The new Executive Board has eight seats in addition to the Chair, instead of the previous nine.
Original text and pictures: Anriika Kauppi
Translation: Oskari Koski
This article is also available in Finnish.
The newly elected Council of Representatives of the Student Union of Tampere University (TREY) had its first meeting on Tuesday 3 December. The constitutive meeting held in Hervanta elected a new Chair and Vice Chairs for the Council of Representatives, and a new Executive Board for the student union.
Aino Halinen (Viva), who has built up her meeting skills on the boards of both TREY and the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), was elected as Chair of the Council of Representatives. Lauri Lindén (ViVa) was elected as First Vice Chair and Eino Suni (Kahden Tähden Teekkarit) as Second Vice Chair.
Sixth year Civil Engineering student Laura Heino (RATTOISA) was selected as the Chair of the Executive Board for 2025.
“It’s an incredible feeling. I’m very honored by the confidence that the council showed in me. I can’t wait to get to work with the new Executive Board and Council of Representatives,” Heino describes her feelings.
Iidalotta Heikka (Luuppi_Puolue), Ina Lehtola (Kontakti), Tami Nordström (Kahden Tähden Teekkarit), Aapeli Rytkönen (Kontakti), Sanni Tyynismaa (Hallintotieteiden liitto), Olavi Latukka, Erja Ronkainen and Siiri Vähäsöyrinki were elected as members of the 2025 Executive Board. The elected Executive Board will organise itself, i.e. agree about the distribution of sectors in the second week of December. The Executive Board will officially start its work on January 7, 2025.
A total of two people applied to become Chair of the Executive Board and 14 people applied to become members. The election of the Executive Board members was not a foregone conclusion, as the votes of the Council were evenly divided between the different proposals. In total, there were nine different proposals. The vote counting process included eight rounds, two of which were decided by lot.
The Council of Representatives decided before the vote that the new Executive Board should consist of eight members in addition to the Chair, instead of the previous nine. The decision was based on a proposal from the Executive Board, which was justified by the consolidation of activities.
“An Executive Board with ten members was needed to consolidate the activities. Now we have found where we can make the processes more efficient. The work will be more evenly divided this way,” explains Noora Hakulinen, the Chair of the 2024 Executive Board.
The constitutive meeting was the first meeting of the Council of Representatives for the first-year students Noa Hytönen and Veeti Huttunen, who had come to follow the meeting partly out of interest and partly for points in their Fresher’s Passport. They were surprised by the official nature of the meeting. Votes, speeches and the Chair’s gavel did not remind them of meetings at work, where everyone speaks randomly.
