Translated material
“They ate cactus and sewed”
“They ate cactus and sewed”
How the Mari State University organized mass sewing of gauze masks to prevent coronavirus, and then made excuses for it
Author: Ksenia VakhrushevaIllustrations: Masha Zakharova Publication: 03/20/2020
On March 16, a post appeared on Twitter in which the leadership of MarSU was accused of forcing students to sew gauze masks instead of pairs. Attached to the tweet was a post from the Instagram account of university rector Mikhail Shvetsov, where he advertises masks produced at the university and leaves a phone number for ordering. The tweet received more than two thousand reposts, and in the comments there were discussions about the admissibility, ethics and legality of such campaigns in universities. Ksenia Vakhrusheva found out what MarSU student, university representative and author of the sensational tweet think about the production of masks.
At the Mari State University in Yoshkar-Ola, students have been making gauze masks since March 10 in connection with the coronavirus pandemic. The rector of the university, Mikhail Shvetsov, spoke about this on his Instagram account and invited everyone to contact the specified phone number to order “custom tailoring” of a mask.
appeared on Twitter On March 16, a post that, in fact, MarSU students were forced to sew gauze masks instead of classes and for a reward in the form of a “personal scholarship,” the amount and payments of which were not discussed. After this, the rector deleted the post with the announcement. The tweet was reposted by more than two thousand users, and in the comments, MarSU students wrote that participation in sewing was voluntary and they received no threats
In 2019, Shvetsov was a candidate for participation in the preliminary voting to determine candidates from United Russia in the elections of deputies of legislative assemblies, administrative centers and by-elections of State Duma deputies. At a rally in honor of Knowledge Day in the fall of 2019, Shvetsov spoke as a member of the United Russia faction of the State Assembly of Mari El.
A student of the Faculty of Professional Education (FOiPO) of the Mari State University, on condition of anonymity, told how the sewing of masks was carried out at the university. The head of the group learned about the task of sewing masks from the curator. For some groups undergoing practice at this time, it was necessary to rearrange their schedules, postpone all training assignments and “purposefully sew masks.” Other students who did not have educational practice, according to the informant, took off their classes and went to sew.
“My group was against participating in this. Another group expressed dissatisfaction in front of me. During the sewing, the guys were very skeptical and not very happy about participating in all this. Some came just to pretend that they were participating, others to leave them alone. But there were no particular disputes or disagreements: they ate cactus and sewed. Teachers, not all, but many, also participated in this. The dean walked around, helped a little, wore bandages back and forth. But it was clear from it that this was an order from the rector and it had to be carried out.”
A MarSU student said that due to a shortage of sewing machines and needles, the sewing process was divided into entire production stages. On March 18, a guide on sewing gauze masks appeared on the MarSU VKontakte page . According to an informant from MarSU, the published video may talk about the real process of producing masks.
All students participating in sewing had to register in a special notebook, indicate the time of arrival and end of work.
In an interview, the girl noted that no one knew anything about the reward, but some optimistically believed: “they will probably pay.” There was also no information about who the masks were made for: at first, university staff said that the university needed to be provided, and then they began to ignore such questions.
After the post appeared on Twitter, dean’s office workers and prefects asked students who exactly was forced to take gauze home - “they wanted to bleach themselves as much as possible after a very exaggerated tweet.” Some students received personal calls from the rector. He asked if they were forced to sew masks.
In student chats and in the comments under the tweet, there are different opinions: some students write “they forced me, I didn’t want to,” others say that they don’t understand the outrage and would not mind helping their university in their free time.
“Shvetsov’s post on Instagram seemed like a stupid joke, very ill-conceived for the rector’s official page, and even the indicated contact. I am outraged by the very fact of sewing masks and the fact that they are endowed with some kind of life-saving property. As far as I know, they don’t protect against anything, even if it changes every minute. Like a placebo. This is just to report: here, measures to protect against infection have been taken at the university. Or is it extreme ignorance about ways to prevent infection, which is extremely shameful for a university with a medical faculty nearby.”
We also contacted the author of the sensational tweet. She turned out to be a Moscow student who agreed to talk with the editors on an anonymous basis. “I would not like to indicate real data, this same rector, whose tail I stepped on, is a deputy of United Russia and has already sent out refutations to a bunch of federal media.”
Friends from MarSU told her about the campaign to sew masks. At first she simply “sympathized” with them, but when she saw a screenshot from the rector’s Instagram with the announcement, she decided to spread information about the students’ possibly non-voluntary participation in sewing.
“I consider it categorically unacceptable to force students to participate in various events and movements. They are not prisoners who are engaged in socially useful work in the zone and not military men who work for the state and whom the state feeds and waters, they are future specialists who study and acquire a profession. If they are interested in helping their university, they will do it without being kicked, and if not, there is no need to force them.”
The author of the tweet was outraged that MarSU students were removed from their classes for “labor duty”: “The fact that masks do not protect against the virus itself adds a special cherry to this cake. The female students were doing useless work instead of studying.”
The girl says that she did not expect such a resonance. Some time after the tweet was published, the rector of MarSU deleted the post announcing the purchase of masks and published a new one, addressing, among other things, the haters. On March 18, two days after the tweet was published, material appeared on the Yoshkar-Ola city portal yociti12.com about sewing smears at the university and publications by Interfax and Izvestia , which stated that the rector’s post was a joke and was deleted due to criticism from users , but no one forced students to sew masks.
According to the Moscow student who wrote the tweet, MarSU is now obviously pretending that nothing happened - that it’s a joke and attacks by haters.
“The students themselves are afraid to say something against the rector, not anonymously - they flashed under my tweet, but deleted comments and closed accounts, especially when they brought in screenshots of VK correspondence from someone either from the dean’s office, or from the curatorial group with one of the students . But I don’t study there and it’s impossible to expel me or fail the session.”
The editors of DOXA also contacted Pavel Kozlov, head of the department of educational work and public relations of MarSU. As it turned out, it was his phone number that was indicated for contact in Rector Shvetsov’s first post on Instagram.
“Students of our university, studying to become teacher-technologists, responded to sew masks for students and staff of the university. All this is on a voluntary basis. You understand that there are almost no masks in pharmacies. At such times, the university always unites. All our employees and students who remain in the dormitories during distance learning are provided with masks. The university is ready, if necessary, to help the Republic and provide masks for residents - low-income and elderly. At such times we need to help each other.
My number was in the post so people could call and ask questions. There was no mention of any sale in the publication. If anyone needed masks, people could contact me.
We will conclude a civil agreement with students and pay for their work from the university’s funds. The calculations will be made by our planning and economic department. We will calculate the number of masks per person, labor hours, time for preparing the material and sewing itself.”
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