Since times immemorial, BTSB has interviewed presidents of SUB and photoshopped their faces onto movie posters. This is that story.Sampsa, congratulations on your election to the high halls of SUB! How would you describe your first months in this hallowed post?

There’s a saying that’s purported to be an old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” The times are definitely interesting in many ways and quite a few challenges have already risen, but we’re on top of things and I honestly don’t think there’s anything we couldn’t handle with the people we have on the board. But “busy” is a pretty damn accurate summation if you need just one word.

You started university at a somewhat more mature age than most. Do you think that affects your style of studying or the way you do stuff in SUB?

Such a nice way of saying I’m as old as the hills. I don’t think it has too much of an effect. I recognize that my studying skills aren’t quite as good as many others' as I did have quite a long break from studying actively. As for the way I do stuff in SUB? I’d say I’m maybe a little more patient than some would be, and I have a tendency to think a little bigger than people around me, but I’m not sure if that’s age or just my personality and this stupid blind belief that if we do things together we can achieve pretty much anything.

I understand you've kept busy with a lot of things, producing the 2016 Humanistispeksi, for instance. Projects like that obviously take some time and commitment. How are you planning to devote enough time for the SUB presidency?

I’d say the 2016 Humanistispeksi was pretty much the greatest thing I’ve achieved so far in my life and saying it took “some time and commitment” is such an understatement. It took over almost everything for a while and left a bit of a hangover now that it’s over.  At the moment I’m definitely putting SUB way up my priority list.

Are you cutting down on your extra-curriculars now that the speksi run is over?

I do feel that my positions in the university collegium and the institute council of the Department of Modern Languages (phew that’s a mouthful) only give me more insight into what we at SUB should and could do as an organization when it comes to the big picture. Also, while my style is very hands on, I trust my board members to be able to handle things without me constantly butting in (but I probably will a bit anyway, sorry guys).

Last year, I put then-president Caitlin on the spot on SUB's stance toward political decisions affecting students. Since then, the decisions have gotten even worse. How do you see SUB's role in particular and subject organizations' role in general in fighting the kinds of unprecedented cuts that higher education is facing on several fronts? Do you think it's in flux?

While SUB is not a political organization as such and we are a very diverse group of people, I do think that we can all agree that the cuts we are facing are ridiculously severe and will affect all our lives in a negative way and I do think that we need to take a more vocal stance on these issues. It does seem like everything is in flux. Right now we are facing huge changes in the university's organization, in the faculty system, even in our degree structure, and the cuts we are facing aren’t helping in any of this.

What do you think could be done?

Of course things might change when the government changes, but things lost aren’t easily recovered so we have to be more active. As students our means are limited, but at the very least we can attend rallies in numbers and make noise. I have to admit that I’ve never been very politically active so I’m not sure of the different ways that we could make our voices heard, but I am finding out, and I hope that the government hears our roar.

I'd like to hear a little more on the topic, since I do think that times like these would call for even drastic measures from student organizations. How are you planning to advance concrete resistance against decisions that directly affect your members, current and future?

As I already said I’m not sure of the measures that we could take, but I will look into things. A good old fashioned letter campaign might be nice, because being buried under a mountain of paper grabs your attention more than an email or a petition no matter how many names it has. I do somewhat fear that too drastic measures might alienate some of our members and have an adverse effect on our organization so open and transparent communication with the whole organization would be the key to forming any resistance. As we are only 541 strong, co-operating with other student organizations would also seem to be the way to go to reach a critical mass.

Any comments you'd like to convey to the government on the latest plans to wreck the Finnish student allowance system?

Most things that come to mind are probably best left in my mind. Just short-sighted, stupid, and silly. The whole government somehow reminds me of the upper class twit of the year sketch by Monty Python:

Moving on to less political issues, what's the direction you see yourself taking SUB during your term? I've gathered that at least you have a very dedicated and versatile group in the board, what do you guys have in mind?

We’re going to keep the momentum that my predecessor put in motion and diversify our activities even more. We’re also doing a lot co-operation with other organizations and putting more energy towards promoting our members interests. I’m also personally interested in bringing the faculty and the students closer to each other as I think that especially with everything going on it would help all of us to communicate more freely about how we are dealing with all the changes.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for SUB in the near future?

Biggest challenges will probably come from all the changes that are in motion at the university, but it’s hard to pinpoint what it will be. I do know that we are going to be able to handle it because of the people I have with me on the board and as members of SUB.

How about greatest opportunity or strength?

This actually comes from the same source as the challenges. All the changes that are shifting and swirling around us are still malleable. If we remain vigilant and grab the opportunities from this turmoil, I believe we can actually make something good out of all this negative around us.

Now, we here at BTSB indeed went ahead and 'shopped your face onto a poster of Leo DiCaprio's Oscar-buster film The Revenant. What are the lessons we should take home from Leo's crawl into a dead horse if we think of the student life context?

First thing that comes to mind is that you can learn a lot from Empire Strikes Back. Second is that no matter how dark and dreary things might seem it is possible to survive, and when we do, we need to find ways to make sure that no other student has to crawl into a carcass, because it’s damn disgusting, or at least not crawl in there alone.

Would you characterize yourself more as raw liver-eater or trout-biter?

Tough one, I love sushi, but I did eat raw liver sometimes as a kid. Hmmm. Probably trout-biter, but I’d spend an inordinate amount of time on ripping it open so I could avoid the skin.

Finally, if you'd give a single piece of advice to our readers about anything related to life at the university, what would it be?

Don’t forget the people, that’s where the knowledge you came to learn here comes from and that’s where it grows. I think that’s a thing some people tend to forget here while they just focus on passing the exams.

Thank you very much for you time, Sampsa! We wish you a glorious reign at the helm of the S-U-Boat!