The stronghold of authoritarianism

As in the tower - once the "most liberal" university in Russia - destroyed student self -government, and what students themselves think about this

The leadership of the HSE completely subordinated the university administration all the Studs councils - in fact, the only working institutions of self -government that were created in the era of "conditional liberalism". Now the rules for the work of Studs councils, as well as their statements on social networks and on other media resources, should be fully controlled by the rector. The general university Student Council has already been destroyed in April this year, and now, after the new provisions begin to work, there will be no independent student representatives in the tower.

Students protest and note that this will completely destroy their autonomy, without which the development of the university is impossible - but still hoped to find a dialogue with the rector and believe in their strength. The leadership of the tower, in turn, claims that the new rules will help to configure the dialogue between students and the administration. As student self-government was destroyed in the HSE, who is behind this and what the students themselves think about it-the new-Europe found out.

The administration of the Higher School of Economics (HSE), which has long been considered one of the most liberal higher educational institutions in Russia, plans to actually completely eliminate student self -government. The changes were proposed by the vice -rector Dmitry Zemtsov, who is responsible for this in the tower.

Documents on October 1 published a channel of students and graduates of Inside HSE. What is written in the amendments:

• The provisions on local (faculty) Studs councils will now be adopted by the university administration, and not the universal university Student Council to the Higher School of Economics, as before. Thus, the leadership will have the opportunity to regulate student councils both at the general university and local level.

• Self -government bodies will pretend to illuminate their activities only on resources controlled by the administration, from which she can remove anything in case of anything.

• The provisions on elections to the Studs council will be accepted by the administration, and not the bodies of student self -government themselves.

• Representatives of the Prochrevsky “Movement of the First” will receive greater weight in the Studs councils (they will have the weight of the voice equal to the number of members of the primary organization, and not the minimum, as it was before).

The explanatory note says that the changes are necessary in order to "ensure a greater level of interaction between student self -government bodies with the Higher School of NiU administration." However, students, on the contrary, believe that the edits will put all self -government bodies in direct dependence on the leadership of the university.

The Commissioner for the Rights of Students of the Higher School of Higher Professional Education Ekaterina Jaegereva and her deputy Nikolai Lobov resigned . As the interlocutor N., who was familiar with the situation ( he chose to remain anonymous for security reasons, said in a conversation with the “Novo- Europe ”, this was done not only in protest, but in order to destabilize the process: in this way, all subsequent decisions of the university leadership will be made without taking into account the opinion of students. Indeed, in the tower now there are actually no student representatives left at the general university level.

First, the dissolution of the general universitic studio council - now the threat of liquidation of local

For students, changes in the situation were a “big surprise”, the interlocutor N., according to him, said in a conversation with the “Novy-Europe”, it all started with the dissolution of the Student Council of the Higher School of Economics in April this year. This happened after the refusal of the leadership of student self -government to include in their ranks the members of the "Movement of the First".

What is the "first movement"?

The “Movement of the First” (the Russian movement of children and youth, RDDM) is a state organization created in 2022, which is engaged in the “patriotic” education of youth. Novyevropa wrote about how it is being implemented in schools with new textbooks on ideological subjects and new programs. The organization is under personal supervision of Vladimir Putin; He directly controls all three permanent governing bodies: supervisory board, coordination council and board.

According to the Students of the Higher School, it was Zemtsov that was one of those who promoted the creation of the “Movement of the First” in the tower.

At the same time, the student councils of faculties and hostels were not then dissolved, and the Commissioner for Students' Rights continued their activities.

The ex-director of the executive office of the Studs council Cyril Music said that at the last meeting of Zemtsov, he presented lists with the names of “objectionable” self-government participants who were supposed to resign.

- It was a wrapper, backed up by pseudo -universal justifications, the content of which should have been mass resignations of approximately 20 naval councils. During this meeting, they threatened me and my colleagues, they tried to manipulate us, they tried to intimidate us and convince us to make people's powers make up. These were 20 people who made up the backbone of the self -government: for example, the heads of key committees and the chairmen of local Studs councils of large faculties. Some colleagues then succumbed to this pressure. But the part still remained in their posts in the Studio Councils of the units: several Studs councils are now headed by people who were then on these lists. And it was from here that edits were born, ”said the music.

The order on the dissolution of the Govodyshkinsky Studs council "Few saw", the interlocutor emphasized:

- It was then [in April] that the never -assembled working group was created under the leadership of the vice -rector of Zemtsov, which was supposed to collect a new composition of the student council until December 1. For several months, participants in local Studs councils and dormitory Studs met with Zemtsov, wrote to him. But the new convocation was never collected, ”he says.

The meeting of the Academic Council, at which the amendments were considered, took place on October 2.

- Officially, the meetings of the Academic Council are published, that is, any tower student can come and monitor what is happening. However, on October 2 it was closed without any warnings, ”says the interlocutor.

As a result, out of 150 members of the Council, only 10 were abstracted, all the rest voted “for”, and the amendments were adopted , N. tells such regulatory acts, according to the interlocutor of Novo-Europe, they come into effect from the moment they were signed by the rector, and, most likely, this will happen in the near future. However, so far the university administration did not suit any meetings with representatives of student departments.

- Most students are convinced that this is actually a voluntarist decision on the part of a specialized vice -rector, which is aimed primarily to the destruction of the remaining autonomy, and not to more coordination. I, in general, agree with this. The mood is apocalyptic. But students hope that this can still be opposed and come to some decision that the administration will satisfy, but preserve student autonomy, ”N.

On October 3, a press release entitled "The tower will develop student self-government" was released on the site of the tower. " According to the leadership, the innovation will allow the Studs council "by the body that, together with the administration, helps to develop the university and take care of observing the interests of students." As stated in the publication, the dean of the faculty of mathematics Alexander Skripchenko at the meeting stated that her faculty acts “a completely functional student council, solving the tasks for which it was created, and not building the political careers of its members.” “Yesterday I had a conversation with members of the student council - they are configured for constructive interaction,” she claims.

Who is Dmitry Zemtsov - the author of the amendments to eliminate self -government

Zemtsov graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University in 2005. He led the Center for Innovative Educational Technologies of the Faculty of Global Processes and worked at the University’s rector. Since January 2017, he has been a vice -rector for the development of the Far Eastern Federal University. In 2020, Zemtsov won the “leaders of Russia” - a competition that is supervised by the presidential administration and positioned as a tool for selecting the best managers of the country. He came to the tower in 2021.

“Dmitry Igorevich is literally flesh from the flesh of the current youth policy at the All-Russian level,” the interlocutor N. said in a conversation with the “New Evrope”, “statements about the university students are such that they literally“ interfere ”; Especially those who study at a full -time budget department.

They are allegedly ungrateful, rebellious, require an increase in scholarships and relations to themselves as equal subjects, and even have the opportunity to receive a free education.

As the former director of the Executive Office of the Studs council, Kirill Music, said, at the first conversation, Zemtsov told him that "he believes not in institutions, but in connection between people."

- The system of student self -government, although by no means ideal, was built on institutional principles: it was a system of representation, which was formed democratically. This was not clear to Zemtsov: he was convinced that everyone could be manipulated and you can agree on everything - the main thing is that there were necessary people. Therefore, from the very beginning, he “adjoined” with individual Studslachiki, attracting them to his promises of work and help. Then, through the “close” to the Studs, he tried to influence the work of the student council, ”said the music.

Editing in the Regulation on student self-government is a direct continuation of the trends that were laid down at the university from the very arrival of Zemtsov to the post in the tower, said the “New-Europe” student T., who was familiar with the situation ( he wished to remain anonymous for security reasons. - approx. Ed. ). He also told us about the manipulation of the vice -rector:

- All this time he tried to tighten the nuts so as to actually receive personal management over student self -government bodies in the tower. For a long time, he tried to achieve his goal by negotiations and manipulations, but at some point, apparently, he could not cope with his task and decided to simply deal with independent representatives of students in one fell swoop. True, he did not succeed in doing this, ”he said.

Indeed, Zemtsov has already tried, in particular, to control the tower media resources. In September, he wanted to transfer under his personal control the former group of the VSHE Studio Council, as well as a group of local Studs councils in VKontakte.

He sent an official request to the technical support of the social network, however, in the end, he did not succeed in selecting publics: they still belong to the team of the last convocation of the Studs council.

According to student T., Zemtsov always tried to make a “certain personal brand” from the student council and, using his activities, promote his image. But then the vice -rector wanted to “demolish everything” and collect a new Studs council - absolutely ineffective from the point of view of the development of the university and improving the life of students, but flexible, quiet and giving him a good impetus to the development of the “personal brand”, the interlocutor added.

- The democratically built and virtually horizontal structure of the Student Council of Zemtsov never understood. He does not recognize the institutions, solves everything through the "kid's agreements." Perhaps that is why the student council always annoyed him - and even scared him - by the fact that he does not work on the principle of his usual work: “Not a Gundi and not to rewind, but go and provide. And not at the moment you will find out how the head flies off the shoulders, ”said Student T.

Students' protests

On the day of the meeting of the Academic Council, October 2, the Local Student Councils of the Higher School of Establishment opposed restrictive amendments, and students and graduates launched a petition: in an open letter to the rector of the university of Nikita Anisimov, they demanded to refuse to adopt amendments and immediately collect the new composition of the student council.

- Without autonomous and strong student self -government, there can be no strong and developing tower. The decisions already adopted by Dmitry Zemtsov and the editing he proposed threaten to completely destroy all the traditions of self -government that have existed for years, ”the appeal says.

Under the letter, more than 1300 people have already signed.

One of the students on the day of adoption of amendments went out with a single picket to the main building of the tower on Pokrovka, where the council was sitting, but the guards almost immediately took him to a “moralizing conversation”. A raven was depicted on the student’s poster, which screams the phrase “for students”, as well as a QR code, which leads to an open letter.

Students also fought for the Govodyshkinsky Studs council: from the moment of its liquidation in April, they even tried to rebuild it without agreement with the university administration, but met with threats of deductions, the interlocutor N. told them that such attempts “could be dangerous for the participants themselves”:

-As far as I know, the chairmen of local Studs councils had hopes that it would be possible to agree on something. They were not burned by the desire to create organs that would be perceived by the administration as hostile, ”he summed up.

This information was confirmed by the former member of the Student City Council Kirill Music: according to him, the election commission of student self -government tried to independently gather delegates from local student councils, but the attempt blocked the leadership of the university.

What are the “dangerous” Studs councils for the Higher School Administration?

The threat of independent Studs for the tower has always been “relatively low,” N. said in a conversation with the New Evrope. According to him, local Studs councils could, for example, organize poetic readings, which were read, among other things, "to raise the level of freedom of discussion to a slightly higher level than in the tower is considered safe."

-However, it does not seem to me that this could at least somehow damage the image of the university, which under the current administration is actively rebuilt from the most liberal university to the most patriotic. Apparently, this is precisely what was perceived as a potential threat, and the administration now plans to completely control the idea of ​​the university in the media and does not want this kind of organization to exist in principle, ”the interlocutor of Novo-Europe added.

In a conversation with the Novo-European, student M., who also wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, confirmed that the tips of the faculties as a whole did not play a big role: they defended the interests of students, but it was precisely the General City Council, was already released, already dissolved. However, with the help of control over the entire system of independent student self -government, it is easier to promote the decisions of the administration and strengthen its influence, he added:

Thus, the tower will finally lose its title of “last stronghold of liberalism in the country” - this stereotype about it has long been outdated for a long time.

Former member of the Studs Council Cyril Music, on the contrary, notes the importance of the Studs' Soviets: they are uncontrolled, their solutions are autonomous and it is not always possible to manipulate them.

- In the world of Dmitry Zemtsov, there should always be an opportunity to predict and prevent the future, and he tried to invent the schemes through which this could be achieved in the Studs. But these schemes did not work, ”he says.

According to music, the Rector of HSE Anisimov and the vice-rector of zemstvo are afraid of unpredictability, the non-control of the fact that autonomous student councils can do something that will hit their career prospects or reputation in government agencies.

- There have always been many strong personalities in self -government, which are difficult to manipulate. And even if it turns out to manipulate several people, this will not be enough, ”he emphasizes.

Both the historian and sociologist, the invited teacher at the faculty of social sciences at Karlov University Dmitry Dubrovsky, who worked as an assistant professor at the Department of Public Policy of the Higher School of Sciences, in a conversation with New Evrope, who was afraid of working institutions of self-government that was created in the era of conditional liberalism, agreed with him.

- Student self -government in the tower was one of the most advanced throughout Russia. It was impressive. The current authoritarian administration, including the rector, does not like to face any resistance. The leadership believes that student self -government is just a different way of managing students from the administration, ”he says.

The tower continues to remain partially free in the inertia in those places where, for some reason, the rector has not yet been produced, Dubrovsky notes. There they continue to work, work and communicate with each other, small groups of people, but the administration effectively destroys working networks of solidarity, he added:

— Руководство боится неуправляемого и непредсказуемого студенческого совета в ситуации, когда всё должно быть параллельно и перпендикулярно. Также оно явно хочет выстроить систему, уже существующую в других вузах, где студенческий совет — это просто придаток ректората, и больше ничего, — подытожил Дубровский.

Бывший председатель студенческого совета факультета гуманитарных наук Илья Крисанов, покинувший свой пост после принятия поправок, отмечает , что вера в самих студентов еще есть у многих. С ним согласен и студент М.: он выразил мнение, что в Вышке до сих пор «осталось достаточно много места для свободы» и что студенты любят свой вуз «до безумия, чистой и преданной любовью».

— Возможно, всё еще будет, — надеется Крисанов.