The catastrophe of Russian academia

After the invasion of Ukraine, all "non-aligned" professors kicked out of college. Many of them spontaneously resigned and left the country. In Soviet times, university life in Russia was much freer and more open than it is now.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - One of the worst consequences of the war in Ukraine and the crackdown on those in Russia who dare to advance criticism against the military operation is the expulsion from colleges of all "non-aligned" teachers, which impoverishes Russian culture even more than the impositions of state patriotism on middle schools and high schools.

Many teachers are also removed without explicit pacifist stances, but in general for their overly liberal views on various topics, and especially for their collaborations with foreign institutions, which had developed in all fields of knowledge during these 30 years. Many quit voluntarily, believing it impossible to do culture in such an atmosphere.

A Sever.Realii survey sought to document this situation by talking to many representatives of academia in St. Petersburg, the city traditionally most open to dialogue between cultures. Biologist Julia Bojarinova will leave her professorship at the end of this academic year, and she confesses that "I feel bad to think how many professors, including the dean of our faculty, signed appeals supporting Putin's decisions, and even more so when I see students excluded from the university for participating in anti-war demonstrations...I supported my students, and I don't really think there is an 80% pro-war, on the contrary."

Instead, many professors joined the "Open Letter of Scholars and Science Journalists of Russia" against the "special operation" in Ukraine, such as universal history lecturer Ljudmila Khut of Adygeja University in the North Caucasus, who immediately afterwards resigned, writing on her Facebook page, "I am free!" The academic explained why she was leaving the university where she had worked since 1979: "I am leaving of my own free will, spontaneously and consciously; it is the price I pay for saying what I think is right, without putting anyone in the way, although I cannot imagine how I will live without my students," Ljudmila explained.

Often, the removal is anything but voluntary, as witnessed by Elena Bandyševa, a humanitarian activist and lecturer in international law, who was refused any contract, even a distance contract, despite being entitled to one after 16 uninterrupted years of university work. Elena taught at the Higher School of Economics, one of the most prestigious institutions in recent decades, with offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where a general crackdown was made. "They justified the rejection because of my temporary move to Georgia, to get away from war issues," Bandyševa says, "and they found all kinds of excuses to decapitate the departments of the School most committed to international dialogue."

Reporters asked the lecturer if she talked about current issues with her students, and Elena recalls that "you can't teach international law without making references to everything going on in the world, the last course I taught was about 'political anti-corruption strategies' in comparison between countries." It is not just about the politically sensitive topics either; the ouster of faculty also greatly affects historical and humanities subjects, where the official interpretation of Russian culture in all its aspects is to be imposed.

Courses touching on the issue of human rights, such as those of the popular Dmitry Dubrovsky, also at the School of Economics, in whose "Introduction to Rights and Freedoms" course students from all parts of the country were seeking to participate, have been suppressed everywhere. "My dismissal was decided in secret rooms, without explanation," Dubrovsky recounts. "We are witnessing the triumph of obscurantism, involving all of Russia's academic institutions, which have come under the direct control of politics...I was kicked out because I was teaching courses exclusively in English, and because I had received the Best Lecturer of 2021 award."

Even in Soviet times university life in Russia was much freer and more open than is being realized now. Even in submission to the official party line, the ability to collaborate with foreign countries was well regarded in the USSR, and in many fields of education, both scientific and humanitarian, this yielded great results, whereas now Russian science is becoming isolated, losing most of its international partners. "Russia's intellectual capital is drying up," warns Dubrovsky, who calls this "the transition from 'kultura' to 'kulturka,' to a degradation of knowledge ... we do not educate young people to face the future, teaching them only to brag about Gagarin and Victory over the Nazis."

• russia
• ukraine
• war
• invasion
• culture
• academy
• school
• censorship