LUT University Lappeenranta campus.
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A student organisation from Oulu was barred from a national technology student competition in Lappeenranta after one of its members made a Nazi salute during the event.
The incident occurred in mid-March during the annual TiTeenien taistot event, which brought together over 400 computer science students from across Finland.
The student in question, representing Oulun Tietoteekkarit ry, performed the gesture while attempting to rally audience support during a quiz segment held at LUT University’s Lappeenranta campus.
Turku-based student Elias Khabbal, who witnessed the incident, said the audience responded with booing, but organisers allowed the quiz to proceed as planned. A notice posted later on the event’s Telegram channel stated that Oulun Tietoteekkarit would be excluded from the final competition round due to misconduct.
Khabbal said the salute may have been an imitation of a controversial gesture made by Elon Musk earlier in the year, but criticised the action and the organisers’ initial handling of the situation.
“Flirting with neo-Nazism is not acceptable,” Khabbal said.
Janni Timoskainen, chair of Cluster ry—the student association from LUT University that organised the event—confirmed the group was disqualified due to the Nazi salute. She said the student involved later apologised, and the team offered a public apology to other participants.
Oulun Tietoteekkarit’s chair Salla Rissanen said the gesture was an ill-judged attempt at humour by a member of the guild and did not reflect the values of the organisation or the individual. She said disciplinary actions were taken internally.
Despite the apology, Khabbal said participants were not adequately informed about the consequences, and the response felt insufficient.
The controversy continued into the official afterparty. Another student from Turku, Aaron Aaltonen, said some attendees—including members of the organising association—used racial slurs and repeated the Nazi salute. One of those involved was reportedly on Cluster ry’s board.
Aaltonen said such behaviour undermines safe space policies that student organisations are expected to uphold during events in student union venues.
The afterparty took place in facilities owned by the LUT University student union.
Timoskainen said Cluster ry had addressed the matter within its board and taken “necessary measures,” but added that individuals are ultimately responsible for their actions.
“Inappropriate conduct is never acceptable, and we do not tolerate it at our events,” she wrote in a statement.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
