"The university shoots in the leg."

Contracts with researchers at St. Petersburg State University are usually signed for a year, less often for two.

For almost two years of a full -scale war in Ukraine, St. Petersburg State University broke up with dozens of teachers who allegedly showed disloyalty to the regime, calculated “paper” based on open information and sources in the university. Employees said that the university discussed the “black lists” of opposition colleagues.

Some of the teachers left voluntarily (as journalist Alexander Chizhenok , he refused to comment on the reason), they decided not to conclude a new contract with someone (as with physicist Andrei Seryakov ), someone was loudly fired after the ethical commission (as historian Mikhail Belousov and philologist Svetlana another Dolzhanskaya ).

Apparently, they are more closely close to St. Petersburg State University than in other scientific and educational organizations, where there are no issues to the same employees-combatants.

“Paper” talked with two former employees of St. Petersburg State University about how they learned about the political reasons for the dismissal, about the atmosphere at the university and that the university is now losing.

Natalia Slyusar

Linguist, worked at St. Petersburg State University until August 2023

- I have officially worked at the university for about 20 years - since I went to graduate school. I read courses associated with experimental language research, and about introduction to linguistics.

I always had temporary labor contracts with the university. Since I have a permanent work at another university in Moscow, in recent years, annual contracts were drawn up at St. Petersburg State University. And this summer they simply refused to resume this contract.

I was not called formal reasons [for non -proceeding the contract]. But I know why informally [ceased to cooperate with me]. Through third hands, the rector’s words reached me: this is a political question.

I could have two complaints to me. Firstly, I signed all the open letters [against hostilities] at the beginning of [war in Ukraine]. Secondly, I opposed the move of St. Petersburg State University to Shushary.

[Non -vomiting the contract] was not unexpected for me. From the beginning of the war, I assumed that they would fire me. However, in 2022 I was not fired. This happened only in August 2023.

The dismissal itself did not upset me. But due to the fact that this happened suddenly and late [before the start of the school year], this has created a lot of problems to other people who work on the program. Relatively speaking, if they announced my dismissal in June, people would have more time to find the one who would read my courses.

[How will my dismissal affect the university?] Perhaps I am a person who is most actively published on the topic of experimental language research in Russia - if we take grammar research. Therefore, probably, that I read these courses, there was some meaning [for the university].

There is a feeling that [political dismissals] in St. Petersburg State University are a lot. Over the past two years, the university has left quite a lot of my friends. Usually all this happened quietly, without explanation. However, many people complained that they were pressure. On Facebook, I often saw general discussions about “total surveillance” at the university: someone was uncomfortable to enter the audience, someone was limited. But this was not with me: no one forbade me, did not recommend anything, did not demand to make statements and did not say that I was doing something wrong. Moreover, I am engaged in such an area where the current agenda is not involved, [therefore I did not notice the penetration of any censorship or silence].

Now I have the main place of work at another university. My dismissal from St. Petersburg State University, of course, seems a small problem today. In general, what is happening in the country.

Senior researcher

worked at St. Petersburg State University until January 2024

- I collaborated from St. Petersburg State University of about seven years. Every year we were dismissed in December, and in January-February they took it again. At the university, many have medium -term labor contracts, and usually with re -registration everything was in order - this is rather a formal event.

However, last year the university fired many employees who are physically abroad, including the head of our laboratory. She offered the laboratory to convey to me, as well as the position of manager. But in the management of scientific research I was informed that this option would not pass, because according to the results of the inspection of the security service I am on the Black List and then you cannot conclude a contract with me at all.

I asked the question of how I could be in the “black list”, but they told me the management that they did not know that it is decided by SB (security service - approx. “ Papers ” ). Moreover, it is not very clear what service it is: internal or external, which reports from outside the university.

Maybe [non -transmission of the contract] is associated with a leakage of “smart voting” or an open letter of the universants. When the story unfolded with the fact that police officers are checking the addresses of registered users from merged databases, they also came to me. I also signed an open letter of employees and students of St. Petersburg State University [against the war in Ukraine]. Otherwise, no skewers are listed for me.

Honestly, I thought that I was simply unlucky and that my case [dismissal] is rather unique. It was unexpected for me, because I did not have any administrative cases or something else. But then I stumbled upon the post of Andrei Seryakov [ - the researcher of the laboratory of super -high energies at St. Petersburg State University, with whom the contract also did not extend and which also suggests that the reasons for the dismissal may be a list of “smart voting”].

At the same time, I did not notice any censorship or pressure in St. Petersburg State University. My area of ​​research is associated with eternal things that do not depend on the political situation.

The story with St. Petersburg State University is completely unknown to me. Now I still work in a different educational project for half-time, which is associated with the state. When I had a renewal, there were no questions to me, although there is a rather stringent inspection check.

My dismissal is unlikely to affect St. Petersburg State University, I am just a little brick in a large wall. But in general, now the university shoots in the leg, because, frankly, there is practically no one to teach. A lot of people left for us. Most of them left on their own, now they squeeze the remaining. Of course, there is a feeling that the university is a large dinosaur, which will lose weight from this all, but somehow will live to better times and then grow back. But so far [St. Petersburg State University] there is only a beautiful picture.

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