HSE says goodbye to "wrong" teachers

Social networks are actively discussing the situation with the Department of Political Science of the Higher School of Economics. As early as June 5, it became known that the leadership of the university decided to unite it with another unit included in the structure of the faculty of social sciences, namely, with the Department of State and Municipal Administration. Many teachers whose contracts expire this year run the risk of being overboard the reorganized department. In particular, political scientist Alexander Kynev said that his course had already disappeared from the educational program, and he believes that this happened for political reasons.

The teacher Elena Sirotkina reported this week about the dismissal of their own free will, but under pressure from the university leadership. The leadership of the university insists that there are no political persecution against objectionable teachers, and not planned mass layouts.

The fact that something was happening in the “tower”, they spoke at the end of May, when it became known about the sudden closure of the student talk show “to the point! Person”, which was held in the media center of the university since September 2017. This happened after the Producer of Navalny Live, Lyubol Sobol, was invited to participate in the elections to the Moscow City Duma as a guest of the next issue.

Lyubov Sobol then accused the leadership of the “tower” of political engagement, recalling the intention of the valeria of Valeria Kasamara university valeriya to run to the metropolitan deputies. On June 7, Kasamara really submitted documents to participate in the elections to the Moscow City Duma in the 45th constituency (Basmann, Krasnoselsky, Meshokan and Sokolniki regions). The head of the Krasnoselsky district, oppositionist from the team of Alexei Navalny Ilya Yashin, should be its main competitor.

Meanwhile, it became known about the reorganization of the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Higher School of Economics and its unification with the Department of State and Municipal Administration. The head of the United Unit will be the head of the Institute of State and Municipal Administration of the Higher School of Higher Professional Education Andrei Klimenko . In an interview with Novaya Gazeta, he said that the decision on the merger was made back in September 2018, and the reason for this was the “similarity of the subject” of two departments. According to Klimenko, the vice -rector Valery Kasamara will lead one of the two institutions within the framework of the reformed structure.

The possible political motives of the merger of the departments were spoke after the teacher of the "tower", political analyst Alexander Kynev said that his course disappeared from the program of the Faculty of Social Sciences. He suspects that his contract, which expires on August 31, simply will not be extended, while the same manner can say goodbye to other "wrong" teachers. Alexander Kynev commented on the situation in an interview with Radio Liberty:

- The fact is that in HSE teachers work on fixed -term contracts. My contract was three -year -old. Its term expires just this year on September 1. Accordingly, a personnel competition is held to extend the contract in the summer, and documents for this competition are submitted in the spring. It just so happened that a significant part of the teachers who had a reputation as a critical attitude to what was happening in the country, this year ended and they fell into this summer competition, including me, Sergey Medvedev, Nikolai Petrov and many other wonderful people. Since the reorganization was announced, the competition was canceled. This means that on September 1, the contract expires, apparently, some kind of temporary before the new competition will be proposed. My situation is as follows: my courses are canceled, they are not in the plan for the next year, that is, my load is 0 hours and 0 courses for the next year. And without a load, it is impossible to have a salary, since it is directly related to the volume of the load that you read in the “tower”.

Only a public campaign can change the situation

Formally, of course, there is an opportunity to replay something. There was a public scandal. I think that those who organized all this, they did not think elementary, but then. In my opinion, a public campaign is the only thing that gives a chance to somehow change the situation. By the way, yesterday there was a meeting of the leadership of the faculty with students, an online broadcast was conducted. I listened to this broadcast. Some concessions have already been made. For example, it was promised that Nikolai Petrov could return to teaching after returning from a business trip. It was said that Sergey Medvedev would seem to be able to stay. This, in my opinion, is already a plus. I am very glad if these wonderful teachers remain. But the question is not only in them. I would also like to continue working with my students. Because, for example, my course is designed for two years: I read the first half of the course, and it is impossible to read the second in such a situation. Therefore, I think that only a public campaign, only a demonstration that students and employees do not care where they study, what courses they read can change the situation.

- And how do students react to what is happening?

There is a whole galaxy of new lecturers closely connected with the United Russia party and with authorities

- A very stormy life goes in a telegram. I read with interest. I am very pleased that there are students who really actively protect their right to quality education. This touches and makes you believe that you have worked all these years for no reason. In principle, by and large they are the main victims. They entered a specific course, specific teachers.

-If any courses disappeared from the curriculum, then new ones have appeared? And new teachers too?

- Yes, they are already declared. Yesterday at this meeting, the names of these courses, the names of teachers were discussed. There is a galaxy of new lecturers closely connected with the United Russia party and the authorities. There, gentlemen of Chesnokov, Danilov, Zaslavsky, Ignatov - a whole pool of former and current employees of the United Russia party leadership, CEC employees and so on.

- And how many current teachers, according to your data, can be left without academic hours?

- I do not have such statistics, because everything happens behind closed doors. No one publishes any lists. All we know is known from colleagues. Everything is extremely opaque, there is no dialogue, ”says Alexander Kynev.

This week, it also became known about the dismissal of an employee of the laboratory of comparative social research on the Higher School of Economics, Elena Sirotkina. On his Facebook page, he wrote that she quit for political reasons "due to pressure from the leadership of the tower." According to her, the pressure was on the part of Valeria Kasamara and was associated with the scientific project of Sirotkina on the study of activists and, in particular, supporters of the opposition Alexei Navalny. “To protect my colleagues, I was forced to quit and continue the study as an independent/unemployed scientist,” said Elena Sirotkina. “The tower has ceased to be a liberal university,” she concluded in her Facebook post.

The vice -rector of the Higher School of Economics Valery Kasamara in an interview with Radio Liberty said that no political persecution of teachers of the university is happening, and the merger of departments is normal administrative practice:

- Let's start with the fact that this is not a one -time story, but the beginning of a large reform within the HSE. This is only the first pilot project. The decision was made before the New Year, it was discussed, after which it was adopted by the Scientific Council of the Higher School. In fact, there is no threat to political science as a science, the unification of the teachers of two departments - in political science and in state and municipal management - under one roof does not affect the educational process. This did not affect the reduction in the number of places allocated to the reception of students in these two areas, absolutely nothing.

- But many teachers are now afraid that they will simply be outside this reorganized structure. Is it true that contracts from September 1 will not be extended with everyone?

- The fact is that HSE is a large university, we have a lot of teachers. Every year, due to changes in the curriculum and educational program, one of the Higher School teachers is leaving. This does not mean at all that we have mass dismissals. At the moment, there is only Associate Professor Alexander Kynev, who, without understanding the employer and not trying to find options to compensate for his load, arranged on the Internet, one might say, an attack on the Higher School of Economics, saying how badly they dealt with him. In HSE, there are a lot of ways to develop their load. Therefore, Alexander Kynev had exactly the same opportunities as everyone else. We are all in competitive conditions. Therefore, if for some reason the courses disappear, then no one cancel the opportunity to offer your project or at least, for example, to teach at the Lyceum HSE, for which you can also get teaching hours. Therefore, we are talking about one person who, without understanding the situation and not finding other possibilities of realizing himself within the walls of the university, causes reputation damage to the university. There is no question of any masses of dismissal.

- And what is the reason that the course of Alexander Kynev disappeared from the educational program?

- Our educational program is not controlled by the faculty, not the department, but the academic leader of the educational program. Alexander Kynev taught in the magistracy - the master's program "Applied Politicalology", whose academic leader is Andrei Akhremenko. In this case, Andrei Akhremenko as the head of this program makes certain decisions, guided by the program to be better. I have nothing to do with managing this program. Therefore, even here I can’t comment on what Andrei Akhremenko was guided by, deleting some courses and inserting others.

- Could you comment on the statement of the dismissed teacher Elena Sirotkina? She says that she was put pressure on her.

- I believe that Elena Sirotkina made a very strange demarche, writing a statement about leaving the Higher School of Economics, because the leadership of the Higher School of Enterprise had no reason to offer her to quit. There was no reason for dismissal at all. There was an appeal to Elena with a request to provide a description of the study that she conducts, since questions arose regarding the questionnaire, tools that she used in her study. For some reason, Elena took this as a violation of her academic freedoms and considered it more correct to leave Higher School. I would not interpret this as pressure from the leadership. I told Elena about this yesterday in a public discussion organized by our student council. There is a video. It is extremely strange that Elena behaved like that.

- Summing up whether I understand correctly that, except for Alexander Kynev, no one of the teaching staff of the Department of Political Science will leave the educational institution in September this year?

“I don’t know who else will leave.”

“But the management has no plans to part with anyone else?”

Alexander Kynev fired himself until the expiration of his contract

- No. The reorganization passed. People are extended by contracts: someone is invited, someone is not invited due to lack of load. Previously, we held a traditional competition of faculty. We have all competitive positions, they are determined by the competitive commission. Someone from colleagues decides that he will change the trajectory, someone wants to stay. This is an absolutely normal living process for any organization, for any university. Therefore, we do not see any political persecution here. But the position that Alexander Kynev has taken today raises a lot of questions. In fact, Alexander Kynev fired himself until the expiration of his contract, ”says Valery Kasamar, vice -rector of HSE.