(abr. SavO; Swedish: ''Savolax nation,'' English: ''Savonian nation)'' is one of the 15 student nations at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

. It is one of the Finnish-speaking nations and was established in 1905. The nation premises have been on the new student house top floor, also known as "Vinni", since 1931.

History

The concept of student nations, divided by geografic area, was conceived in University of Paris, Sorbonne. When the

Royal Academy of Turku The Royal Academy of Turku or the Royal Academy of Åbo was the first university in Finland, and the only Finnish university that was founded when the country still was a part of Sweden. It was founded in 1640. In 1809, after Finland became a ...

was founded in 1640, the concept of nations was also present. The earliest mention of Savonians was in 1653. The present nation was founded on 1 October 1905 with Karjalainen Osakunta, when the two nations split from Savo-karjalainen osakunta. The anniversary day of SavO is 20 February, or the nearest Saturday or Sunday, in remembrance of the decree that Finnish was introduced to the courts and the authorities. Membership has fallen since 1968, when student movements were radicalized, even though the legal requirement of being a part of a nation was abolished in 1937.

Administration

Judicial status of the nation – just like other nations – is based on the Universities Act and also the regulations of the university. The highest deciding body of the nation is the meeting of the nation, where the inspector heads the meeting. At the beginning of 2008, the inspector is Martti Nissinen,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Old Testament studies Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Jewish usage and the Christian Bible including the canon ...

in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki. The nation is governed by the nation council, which is chosen every year. The council is headed by the curator, who is an older member or a former member. The regulations of the nation explicitly state that the curator must be at least a proper (or former) member. The curator is chosen every other year, and has a term of two years. The curator for the term 2024-2025 is Lauri Hatakka. Other members of the council are; excecutive director, secretary, treasurer and four councillors. Practical activities are taken care by functionaries.

People

Inspectors

* Theodor Homén 1905–1923 * Oswald Streng 1923–1924 * K. R. Brotherus 1924–1928 * A. F. Puukko 1929–1945 * Mauno J. Kotilainen 1945–1960 * Lennart Pinomaa 1961–1963 * Pentti Pöyhönen 1964–1968 * Aarne Nyyssönen (act. 1964–1965) 1969-1975 * Mikko Korhonen 1975–1983 * Toivo Holopainen 1984–1987 * Raimo Väyrynen 1988–1992 * Mirja Saari 1993–1999 * Mauno Kosonen 2000–2007 * Martti Nissinen 2008–

Honorary members

In parentheses is the year of induction. * Thiodolf Rein (1905) *

Juhani Aho Juhani Aho, originally Johannes Brofeldt (11 September 1861 – 8 August 1921), was a Finnish author and journalist. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature sixteen times. Early life Juhani Aho was born at Lapinlahti in 1861. His ...

(1908) * E. G. Palmén (1910) * P. E. Svinhufvud (1917) * Otto Manninen *

Konstantin Päts Konstantin Päts ( – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president from 1938 to 1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades p ...

(1930) * Oswald Renkonen * A. F. Puukko * Ilmari Salomies (1953) * P. J. Hynninen (1958) * Mauno Kotilainen (1961) * Martti Ruutu (1962) * Olavi Nieminen (1980) * (1992) * Kai Laitinen (1995) * Antero Nederström (2001) * * Mauno Kosonen (2014) * Rauno Puisto (2020) *

Olli Rehn Olli Ilmari Rehn (; born 31 March 1962) is a Finnish public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 ...

(2020) * Eeva Ahtisaari (2023)

Relations to other associations

Savolainen osakunta is an active association within the

Student Union of the University of Helsinki The Student Union of the University of Helsinki (, HYY, , HUS) was founded in 1868. It has about 27,000 members. The union used to be one of the world's richest student organizations, with assets of several hundred million euros. Among other thing ...

. Cooperation is done between other nations and through Osakuntien Yhteisvaltuuskunta. Close relations are especially with Karjalainen Osakunta, as well as to neighbours in the student house,

Eteläsuomalainen osakunta (ESO) is one of the 15 student nations at the University of Helsinki, Finnish-speaking, established in 1905 and it has Uusimaa and Eastern Uusimaa as recruitment regions. Before 1905, Nylands Nation (NN) gathered both Finnish- and Swedish- ...

and Varsinaissuomalainen osakunta. Politics within the student union is through the student political party Osakuntalainen Unioni. The nation cooperates with Savolaisen Osakunnan Seniorit ry, which is the association of former members and graduated members of the nation. With the association, the nation governs Savolaisten ylioppilassäätiö, which owns the apartments of the nation.

Friendships

SavO has friendship agreements with student associations abroad. The first agreement was established in 1930, with the male

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

Fratenitas Estica in Tartu, Estonia and shortly after with the female corporatio
Indla
Contact was also continued during

Soviet occupation of Estonia The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit ( union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the occupied and annexed territory of Estonia ...

. Relations to Swedish nations were also being negiotiated at the same period, but formal agreement with

Värmlands Nation Värmlands nation is one of the List of Uppsala University nations, 13 student nations at Uppsala University. Värmlands nation catchment corresponds to Karlstad diocese, that is, the regions Värmland and Dalsland. No formal requirement relate ...

in Uppsala was reached only in 1951. Agreements with Wermlands Nation in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

and Linköping were reached in 1956 and in 2005 respectively.

References

External links

* 1905 establishments in Finland Student nations in Greater Helsinki {{Finland-university-stub