Translated material
DOXA is expelled from HSE
DOXA is expelled from HSE
What happened, why do we need the status of a student organization and how to move on?
Our fears were confirmed; DOXA was indeed deprived of its status as a HSE student organization. We explain what is happening, what we plan to do, and how you can help our magazine.
In short: We have been expelled from HSE student organizations, which means we will not be able to receive resource support from the university (financing, audio/video equipment, classrooms). The reason for depriving us of our status was an appeal from the rector of the RSSU, Natalya Pochinok, who complained to about the publication the rector of the Higher School of Economics, Yaroslav Kuzminov, dedicated to her activities. After that, “damage to the university’s business reputation” was discovered in our publications. The vote to deprive us of our status was carried out in an extremely short time and on the same day as the sensational court hearing of student Yegor Zhukov.
We believe that this is deliberate intimidation of HSE students and student organizations. All HSE student media and many other organizations may fall under the vague formulations of the university administration. Therefore, we will not give up and demand a public discussion with the participation of the administration, the Student Council and other student organizations. We also thank everyone for their support, and urge you to reprint and repost our articles, which became the reason for depriving us of the status of a student organization. You can also support us by making a monthly donation .
Why were we deprived of the status of a student organization?
Formally, this happened for one single reason - damage to the (business) reputation of the university. RGSU Rector Natalya Pochinok complained to HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov about our September publication about her activities, after which the HSE Legal Department examined our organization for violating the rules (judging by the document, this happened in mid-October).
In the conclusion of the Legal Department, it is recommended to consider the issue of depriving our journal of the status of a student organization due to violation of local regulations of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, as well as to check other student organizations.
In reality, the legal department analyzed exactly two DOXA publications:
- An article about the rector of RGSU Natalya Pochinok;
- The article “ 5 REAL reasons not to enroll in HSE ”.
HSE is an expert and analytical center. Also, HSE and RSSU are partners who together develop Russian education and science. These two elements make up the reputation of a university. With its publication, DOXA undermines the reputation of HSE as an expert center, and the publication about RSSU undermines the partnership between HSE and RSSU. At the same time, the publication about HSE “contains defamatory information regarding HSE directly”, “causes harm to the business reputation of the Higher School of Economics, since it creates untrue negative ideas about the University among applicants and their parents.”
How is “harm to a university’s reputation” measured?
The Legal Department refers to clause 3.5.15 of the Internal Regulations of Students (prohibition of harming business reputation). As we all understand, damage to reputation is quite difficult to assess objectively. The legal department also understands this, so they previously issued an explanatory commentary on what exactly could constitute a violation (thanks to colleagues from HSE Press for drawing attention to this):
- dissemination of information about the university that does not correspond to reality and discredits its business reputation;
- rude statements giving a false negative assessment of the university’s activities;
- contacting authorities and law enforcement agencies with information about the university that does not correspond to reality and discredits its business reputation;
- committing immoral acts, offenses, crimes, when the name of the National Research University Higher School of Economics appears in the description of what happened in the media or on social networks, other information sources, etc.
Thus, in order to prove that we are harming the business reputation of HSE and violating the rules, we need to show that the information we provided in two articles does not correspond to reality. The Legal Department did not do this, which means that its assessment of our actions does not meet its own criteria. “Harm to reputation” has also not been empirically supported in any way.
What do we have to lose?
Technically, student organization status is our only form of registration.
With the loss of status, we lose the opportunity to:
- book classrooms for student organization events at HSE;
- use technology (we won video and audio equipment in an internal competition at HSE, and began recording podcasts with it);
- apply for an increased scholarship;
- receive basic funding for the HSE (10 thousand rubles per year);
- apply for additional funding for our projects (HSE financed several of our major academic events);
- conduct “practice” for students.
In terms of resources, we are not losing that much - although in general we have no other resources. Much more important for us is the precedent of the ban on student organizations.
Why aren't we excited about "independence"?
Over the past year, censorship of student projects at HSE has become a real trend. First, the student talk show “To the Point” came under pressure, which was closed after inviting Lyubov Sobol to appear on the air; the editors of The Vyshka were “called on the carpet” by Vice-Rector Valeria Kasamara in June; the DOXA event at HSE Day was essentially disrupted ; The discussion platform “ZaGranitsy” was deprived of the status of a student organization for alleged political activism.
Despite these trends, we did not expect that the HSE administration would decide to put direct pressure on our journal. We believed that the reputational risks were too great, and the university did not need another scandal involving Russian and foreign media. But the trend towards self-censorship won: we were expelled from the university as a result of a “special operation”.
The voting of the Fund for Support of Student Initiatives was carried out in half a day - in absentia, without face-to-face discussion with the editors, as demanded by at least four members of the Council. Former Chairman of the HSE Student Council Dmitry Ovakimyan notes that such speed in the Foundation’s absentee voting is an unprecedented phenomenon; as a rule, bureaucratic processes take much longer. It is all the more no coincidence that they decided to hold the vote on the same day as the trial of HSE student Yegor Zhukov, to whom the attention of all media, including student ones, was attracted.
The attack on DOXA is a deliberate act of intimidation against students. This summer we became a platform where students from different universities could tell each other about their projects and create a common space for discussion. As HSE and University of Chicago professor Konstantin Sonin said : “DOXA magazine <...> does a fantastic job, giving Russian students - from all universities - the opportunity to live in a single space.”
But this act of intimidation is directly directed against other HSE student organizations and student media. This has already been noted by The Vyshka, which was easily able to try out the accusations against DOXA on itself (this media also unites students of other universities and publishes critical articles about HSE and other universities). Many other HSE student organizations could be closed on similar grounds. Moreover, the HSE legal department apparently hints at this when it recommends checking “the activities of other student organizations.”
Therefore, we do not agree that we should simply breathe a sigh of relief and rejoice in our newfound independence. This is censorship, and if left unchecked, it will continue to get worse. We feel responsible to other students and student initiatives. If DOXA leaves HSE, this will only strengthen the atmosphere of self-censorship and conformity in Russian universities.
We also absolutely disagree that independence conflicts with support from the university. This idea of independence goes back to a specific understanding of the “independence” of journalists: “he who pays calls the tune.” We, The Vyshka and other student media have an independent editorial policy, despite our affiliation with the university and possible support from it.
Student organizations in Russian universities are artificially restrained in their development (which is obvious when compared with student organizations in European and American universities). The university is not a private commercial agent with a “business reputation” and a brand, but a space for collaborative discussion and scientific creativity that belongs to employees, students, alumni, and - ultimately - to the entire society.
- An open discussion with representatives of the Fund for Support of Student Initiatives, the HSE Legal Office, the Student Council and other student organizations. In this discussion, in particular, representatives of the administration must explain exactly how we are harming the reputation of the university;
- Cancellation of the decision to deprive us of the status of a student organization , since now we do not see any compelling reasons or violations on our part;
- A broad discussion about the place and status of student organizations at the university with the Student Council and student organizations with specific proposals at the end.
#WE'RE THE FADOX. How to help the magazine
As we wrote in our last address, we count on broad support from the academic and journalistic community. We can already thank many of our colleagues for their solidarity, in particular:
We have never protected our articles with copyright, but now we even more encourage all media and university student organizations to reprint and repost our articles, which became the reason for depriving us of the status of a student organization:
Additionally, if you would like our magazine to have more resources to support editorial independence, you can consider making a monthly donation to support our editorial team . A few hundred rubles a month will not be an insignificant amount for you, but will allow us to cover some technical and organizational costs.