Alexandra Zaitseva, a first-year student at St. Petersburg State University and editor-in-chief of Studnya, faces expulsion for supporting expelled students.

The Ethics Commission of St. Petersburg State University considered the statements of first-year student and editor-in-chief of “Studen” Alexandra Zaitseva “incompatible” with the status of a university student. According to the student, she faces expulsion, she shared with Bamaga.

Zaitseva condemned politically motivated expulsions from St. Petersburg State University in a publication by the student media “Studen” on June 24. She called the expulsions of students with an anti-war position “mean and unfair” and promised that “Studen”, under her leadership, would write not only “about the exam schedule.”

After this, an anonymous appeal to the Vice-Rector for Youth Policy, Alexander Babich, appeared on the website of the electronic admission office of St. Petersburg State University. The author of the letter asked to pay attention to the “dismissive attitude towards patriotic citizens of our country.” The university complained to the police about Zaitseva. She was also called in for a “conversation.”

On July 7, a decision appeared on the website of the Ethics Commission of St. Petersburg State University, which stated that “the behavior of A. N. Zaitseva is incompatible with the high status of a student at St. Petersburg State University.” The commission mentioned Zaitseva’s post, where she condemns the expulsion of seven students, as well as her interview with Dozhd criticizing the university.

The decision states that Zaitseva allegedly violated the points of the University Student Code - “Represent the University in a non-university environment with dignity” and “Honor teachers, respect colleagues and students, maintain friendly relations both inside and outside the University, and contribute to the creation of an environment of mutual understanding and cooperation.”

Alexandra Zaitseva shared her plans for the future with DOXA.

St. Petersburg State University student, journalist for Studnya

Alexandra Zaitseva

I plan to just wait to see what the St. Petersburg State University administration will eventually do. My colleagues at Studny share my position. Nobody thinks those deductions were fair.

If I am expelled, I will look for a place where I can get a really good education and where I can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills.

The quality of education at St. Petersburg State University is, to put it mildly, low.

There are a large number of simply aggressive teachers for whom, for example, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people are a reason to giggle. Some suggest writing about Donbass as a topic for an essay (you don’t choose the topic yourself, but pull it out like a ticket) or say that Ukraine does not exist.

Of course, there are good teachers, some even amazing. But there are very few interesting tasks. More than half are abstracts, and they are not even particularly checked. We are not given any useful feedback.

Context

• In June, at least seven students close to dismissed associate professor Mikhail Belousov were expelled from St. Petersburg State University. The students were summoned to an ethics commission, where they were asked questions about their attitude to the war in Ukraine, the university student Fyodor Solomonov who died in the war in Ukraine, and their acquaintance with the “Belousov sect.”

• Mikhail Belousov, associate professor at the Institute of History of St. Petersburg State University, was fired from the university in early June. The order states that after reports appeared in the media about “Belousov’s dissemination of materials discrediting the military,” an inspection was carried out, as a result of which it was decided to fire the teacher.

• Later, a criminal case was opened against Belousov for the “rehabilitation of Nazism.”

Added commentary by Alexandra Zaitseva.