Open the Moscow State University

Students of Moscow State University staged a strike due to catastrophic conditions in dormitories. Ivan Chesnokov went to a branch of the House of Students on Lomonosovsky Prospekt and studied local life - with cockroaches and without a shower

At about three in the afternoon on December 16, a lot of students gathered in the main building of Moscow State University. Among them was Alexander, a modest young man with glasses and a green sweater. He and about a hundred students climbed the elevator to the ninth floor, where vice -rectors, security and police were already waiting for them. In a normal situation, the students would probably have a bang. But not on this day. “Occupation of the Recrete”, as the protesters themselves called what was happening, began because the students did not want to continue to live in the buildings of the Student’s branch: among bugs, cockroaches and dilapidated toilets.

In the slums

The branch of the Student House (FDS) is one of the dormitory complexes of Moscow State University. Seven five -story buildings on Lomonosovsky Prospekt were built in the sixties. Usually, students of the faculties of physics, mathematics and computational mathematics and cybernetics (Navy) are populated here. In each building-about 500 students who live in three or four people in the room.

Branch of the Student House Photo: Ivan Chesnokov

In the evening, the FDS corps look gloomy, they are more reminiscent of psychiatric hospitals than dormitories. On the brick walls, the numbers of the buildings are written in black paint, the wind howls in the porches, the wooden door creaks ominously.
In one of the buildings, Alexander, a first -year student of the Faculty of VMK lives. If I introduce myself to a journalist, the watchman will not let me in, ”he warns in advance. Therefore, I say that I came to visit a friend. An elderly watchman slowly records passport data in a shabby magazine. A Christmas tree burns behind her, slightly highlighting the shabby walls.

Alexander was born in the Volga region. He studied at a school with a physical and mathematical bias (“although they were not taught mathematics”), he was fond of programming. By the end of grade 11, the young man decided to enter the Moscow State University at the faculty of VMK: "This is like a cool university." Alexander found out that he entered the budget, arrived in Moscow on August 25 and was immediately defined in one of the Federal Penitentiary Service buildings: “Accommodation here is almost free - only 120 rubles a month.” The young man knew about how the conditions would have to live in in advance-during his entrance exams he lived in a hostel, where students were settled by the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. “When I first came to the toilet, I immediately got sick,” the student recalls. - Therefore, I reached the shopping center where there is a normal restroom. Then I looked into the shower, - in the end I did not wash for three days. "

Hostel of Moscow State University Photo: Ivan Chesnokov

Alexander lives in the building for almost six months. One shower is designed for more than 500 people. There are no sprayers on most leaks, on taps - pens. Or just does not pour water. “Souls are opened from six to ten in the morning and from six in the evening to one in the morning. As a result, large lines are formed and you have to wait long. Of course, I'm already used to it, but at first it was unpleasant. Especially when you wash, but they look at you and think: rather, he would have finished. After all, the shower does not close in any way. It happens that he breaks completely, and people have to go to another corps, ”says my interlocutor.

In 1970, new sanitary and epidemiological requirements were published, according to which a shower and a toilet in corridor dormitories should be more than ten rooms, says a student. “We have 44 rooms on the floor, and there are two toilet. And for more than 200 rooms in general, one shower, ”he says. In addition, students living in the FDS have to use a garbage chute from which cockroaches constantly run out; The toilet is also often clogged; A fire alarm is triggered every two hours.

Alexander lives in a room with two classmates. Two beds (one two -tier), an old table, a closet and bedside tables. A towel hangs on the wall, boxes with cookies are lying on the refrigerator. The nightstand is sealed with tape, - fell apart. According to young people, it is pointless to make repairs: every two years the administration has been moving students to new rooms. The neighbor of Alexander, Daniil, regularly sees cockroaches near his bed. “Once in a dream, bugs bit me. I don’t even know how to poison them, I have never done this, ”says the student.

Protest

The Rectors of Moscow State University repeatedly recognized the condition of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Federal Duma for the Close to the emergency and back in 1994 promised to build new dormitories. Finally, in 2015 it was decided to relocate students to new buildings, but only one of the two planned ones turned out to be ready. “This hostel is located in the new territory of Moscow State University. It is designed for 2700 seats, while 2,300 people live in all FDS buildings. That is, everyone climbs, ”says Alexander. However, according to the student, the leadership of the university decided to relocate all faculties except the VMK and Mehmat: “They explain this by the fact that due to the transition to six years of education (four years of undergraduate plus two magistrates) next year, 1,200 seats will not be enough in the new hostel, and those buildings in which we do not live will demolish and build a valley of Moscow State University.”

When a new resettlement plan came out, Alexander was horrified: "I tried to write to someone, but nothing has changed." He was not the only one. After a couple of weeks in the common lobby, Alexander saw five students with laptops. They created a brigade, the purpose of which is the struggle for relocation to a new hostel. The young man decided to join.

“When we signed up for an appointment with the head of the dormitory department of Vodolazsky, he generally sent us” Twist this quote

A team of 10 people formed. First, the students went to the dean’s office, where they asked for help. Refused. The dormitory management answered that they would not do anything. In the rector, they even ordered not to climb. “When we signed up for an appointment with the head of the dormitory department of Vodolazsky, he sent us at all,” Alexander recalls.

The initiative group decided to write a collective letter to the rector of Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnich. We began to collect signatures: “First we went to the FDS buildings. On the geological, Mehmat and VMK, about a thousand were collected. Then we went to other faculties, and everyone supported us. ” Finally, they decided to contact the rector directly: “It is impossible for a simple student to make an appointment with a garden. We needed a large number of people. ” So throughout the university, leaflets began to appear, calling for the occupation of the rector and achieve a meeting with the head of the university. Active students went on lectures and talked about upcoming plans. By three o'clock in the afternoon, December 16, 2528 signatures were collected. About 100 students climbed the elevator to the ninth floor of the main building of Moscow State University.

Negotiation

Hostel of Moscow State University Photo: Ivan Chesnokov

The guard, who met the protesters at the exit of the elevator, strongly recommended that students leave the building. Vice -rectors tried to influence the situation: they said that they would solve all problems, then threatened with serious consequences. Then the deputy deputy approached and offered to talk "over a cup of tea." The protesters continued to wait for the rector. Sadovnichy appeared three hours after the start of the action. He was absolutely calm, offered negotiations and invited five students from Mehmat and five with the Navy. Alexander and nine of his comrades recorded a conversation on voice recorders.
At the meeting, the students handed the rector a collective letter and said that they did not want to continue to live in the FDS corps. The Sadovnichi promised to solve the problem and proposed two options: either in early spring, students move to a new hostel according to the original plan, or wait until the summer and come up with something new. Stopped at the second. We agreed to create a special commission that will distribute places. She was headed by one of the vice -rectors. It seemed that soon the problems would end.

“The next day, an audit of vice -rectors and deputy deeds for hostels comes to our corps,” says Alexander. - Like, we wanted to see in which we live. Of course, by their arrival, watchmen, cleaners and electricians for the first time in a few months changed light bulbs, knuckles on taps and watering can on the souls, which are still falling off. They killed cockroaches. " Participants in the initiative group proposed a tour of the hostel. “They answered us:“ Get out! ” The participants of the initiative group proposed a tour of the hostel. “They answered us:“ Get out! We will exclude you from the commission! " After that, we walked for the vice -rectors and deputy dealerships and watched how they rejoice that everything was clean with us, ”the student is indignant.

***

“If Sadovnichy does not keep his promises, the protesters will write statements to Rospotrebnadzor, Objnadzor and the prosecutor's office, provide a whole list of violations and ask the FDS to recognize the FDS unsuitable for housing,” says Alexander. We are sitting in an empty lobby.
- Do not be afraid that they will expel? I ask.
- How can they do it? I manage to prepare for the session. They will expel - and expel. I will rebuke as a last resort.

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