HSE decided to prohibit students and teachers from signing open letters

The HSE administration intends to prohibit students and staff from making public statements, including signing open letters, posing as a student or university employee. According to the student magazine Doxa, such a ban is contained in the new edition of the internal regulations of students.

In addition, the university administration intends to stop supporting all student media and ban student organizations from engaging in human rights activities.

Update: On January 17, the HSE leadership published draft amendments to the internal regulations. The document, in particular, states that "the status of student organizations will no longer be assigned to student media." The obligation of students and teachers is also prescribed “not to make political statements, positions, not only on behalf of the entire university, but also on behalf of an indefinite circle of students or employees (for example, faculty students, residents of hostels, etc.)”.

Sources also reported pressure on university staff for their signatures on open letters, although a letter against the politicization of the university, signed by deans and honorary professors of the university, was also published in the summer.

Doxa Magazine

• In recent months, several open letters from HSE students and faculty have attracted public attention. These were appeals against the nomination of Vice-Rector Valeria Kasamara in the elections to the Moscow City Duma, in support of the person involved in the “Moscow case”, HSE student Yegor Zhukov, and against the punishment of Professor Gasan Huseynov for his statements about the “cloacal” Russian language.
• In December, the HSE administration excluded Doxa magazine from the list of student organizations because of a text about RSSU rector Natalya Pochinok and her participation in the Moscow City Duma elections.