Moscow's Higher School of Economics shuts down student journal for critical article on academic who ran for office with government support

The student funding committee at Moscow’s prestigious Higher School of Economics (HSE) has issued a decision stripping the Doxa student journal of its status as a student organization. Oleg Solodukhin, an advisor to the university’s rector who also leads the committee, broke the news to MBK Media.

Solodukhin argued that Doxa had damaged the HSE’s reputation by publishing an article about another academic, Russian State Social University Rector Natalia Pochinok. The administrator felt that the article “did not correspond to […] HSE’s demands, including the principles of evidence-based research.”

Doxa editor Armen Aramyan told MBK Media that the committee’s decision means the student group will be unable to receive any support from HSE, including technology, space, and funding. The university began investigating the group after Pochinok herself complained about the article in question, which highlighted her campaign for a Moscow City Duma seat in the summer of 2019. Pochinok ran as an independent but received support from sources that typically fund politicians from Russia’s ruling party.

Doxa has also been involved in organizing support campaigns for students arrested during the course of the summer 2019 election protests.