Students Against the War. A study on how universities expel students for political reasons
In 2022-2023, at least 82 students were expelled from Russian universities for political reasons — this is three times more than in the four pre-war years (2018-2021). Universities use expulsion and other methods of pressure not only against students with an anti-war position, but also young people of different religious views, LGBTQ+ persons or activists of student associations.
Often such repressions remain invisible: students do not talk about the pressure publicly for fear of spoiling their academic track and rarely appeal illegal actions of the university in courts due to lack of time and financial resources, although even in today's Russia courts recognize such expulsions as illegal and restore students' right to education.
In this text, we examine the practice of political expulsions in recent years, identify the parts of the education system that make political expulsions possible, and suggest ways to protect students. We also briefly review how the lives and careers of those students who have already suffered repression have changed.
Table of Contents
Who conducted the research
The authors of the study are Molnia, a human rights project for students in Russia. For several years, Molnia has been documenting cases of pressure on students for civic activism and self-expression: scholarships suspension, threats from the military recruitment center, bias in exams, liquidation of student associations, and denunciations of students to law enforcement agencies. In this report we focus on expulsions — one of the most severe forms of influence on students, which is available to the administrations of universities and colleges.
Methodology
For this study, we examined 108 college and university dropout histories in 17 regions across Russia from 2018 through 2023.
The source of information was open data and the human rights practice of Molnia. We did not limit the geography of the study, but we received the most information from those regions where media and institutions of student self-organization work effectively, which means that expulsion cases receive more publicity (for example, in St. Petersburg). We think that in reality there are more politically motivated expulsions.
How universities expel students and how this affects the entire higher education system
By political expulsion, we mean expulsion from a university or college that is related to:
- students' political activism (e.g., support for human rights organizations, other expelled students, participation in political party activities);
- participation in protests, rallies, pickets and receiving protocols on administrative offenses;
- journalistic work;
- negative reviews of the institution where the students were enrolled;
- religious expression.
At the same time, in a large number of cases there is no direct link between political activity and expulsion — for example, the orders do not say that a student was expelled for wearing a hijab — but it can be determined by a combination of factors.
Political expulsions violate the fundamental right to education (Article 43 of the Russian Constitution and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights). But not only that: politically motivated expulsions contradict the right to freedom of speech (RGUP student Rostislav Pavlishchev was expelled for "criticizing the authorities"), peaceful assembly (Viktoria Parshenkova and Ilya Bochkarev were expelled from St. Petersburg State Medical University due to their participation in anti-war meetings), freedom of religion (female students at Novocherkassk Medical College were expelled for wearing the hijab) or freedom of association, where students are expelled from universities and colleges because of their trade union work or participation in student organizations (Alexander Mikheev, co-founder of the Eighth of February trade union and Save Smolny campaigner, reports that he was expelled from SPbSU).
Political expulsions often remain invisible because universities have the tools to make them appear "legal"
Expulsion for political reasons is formalized either as a disciplinary penalty for violation of local normative acts, or as a failure to fulfill the obligations of the educational program.
Both grounds are often abused by higher education institutions:
- In the case of violation of local acts — universities and colleges prescribe vague formulations in their charters, internal regulations or codes of ethics. Often they control the life of students outside the university, which directly violates Article 30 of the Federal Law "On Education", which states that local normative acts may contain only those norms that regulate educational relations. But universities actively include in their internal rules clauses like "to follow moral and cultural traditions and spiritual values, generally accepted moral and ethical norms" — it was with this wording that seven students of St. Petersburg State University were expelled in June 2023. Seventeen students of the Russian Islamic University were expelled with the laconic wording "for violating the rules of internal regulations of students" because they did not participate in a rally in support of the "referendums in LNR and DNR".
- It is especially difficult to trace and challenge political motives in expulsions for failure to pass exams and credits, i.e. cases when "undesirable" students are expelled because they failed to pass exams and credits. Universities have many tools to make it difficult for students to pass exams, and it is very rare to prove that it is political pressure and not an poor preparation for exam (the case of Maria Chuzaeva and Alexander Mikheev).
Pressure on one student has an effect on all students: young people realize that they can be expelled for public actions — this leads to self-censorship (in international law this is called the "chilling effect").
Expulsions after February 2022 became more frequent: main trends
Russian universities and colleges expelled three times more students for political reasons during the two years of war than from 2018 to 2021
We recorded a record number of dropouts in 2022, when universities and colleges expelled at least 52 students. In 2023, the number of expulsions fell to 31. But it is unlikely that this indicates a softening of the administration's policies towards students — we can assume that the price of going public or openly expressing a position has become so high that students are restricting themselves to avoid reprisals.
The record holder in terms of deductions is St. Petersburg
According to open sources, at least 24 students were expelled from St. Petersburg educational institutions in 2022 and 2023. The most students were expelled from St. Petersburg State University (11 students) and St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions (4 students).
We admit that we know many cases of expulsions specifically from St. Petersburg because this city has a lot of local media (Paper, Fontanka Rotunda, etc.) and student organizations (e.g., the student council of St. Petersburg State University).
Most often the formal reason for expulsion is violation of internal rules of the university. More than half of the students were expelled with this wording
According to the expulsion orders with which we managed to get acquainted, students "violate" statutes, internal regulations and other local acts.
Often these rules themselves are written in violation of and in conflict with a higher rule of law, namely federal law, which does not allow universities to regulate student life off-campus.
A traditional example of such abuse is the "ban" on rallies. Thus, according to paragraph 4.8 of the Code of Ethics of Samara Polytechnic, students may not participate in unauthorized rallies, as well as disseminate information that is directed against the state and harms the state system. The Code of Ethics of the Kazan Federal University explicitly states that participation in unauthorized rallies is not considered "proper behavior". The regulations on expulsion of the Far Eastern Federal University allow the administration to expel a student due to "administrative and criminal liability".
It is impossible to expel students for an administrative offense — this violates the fundamental legal principle non bis in idem ("not twice for the same thing"), which does not allow for one act to be punished twice. Rosobrnadzor recognized such rules as worsening the situation of students and issued a warning to the rector of FEFU — now the university must correct its regulations on expulsion. But according to the chairman of the United Council of Students of FEFU, the university administration has not made changes to local acts — in fact, the clause on expulsion for bringing to administrative and criminal responsibility is still in force. However, the student notes that the university administration has backtracked and does not apply this rule in practice.
In recent years, expulsion for violation of the university code of ethics has become a trend. Such codes are in force in 92 universities out of 106 universities included in the Priority-2030 program and often contain rules that are open to interpretation, such as "do not commit actions that harm the interests of the university" (UrFU). The Code of Ethics of the Baltic Federal University instructs students not to criticize the institution. Students of Voronezh State University, according to the Code of Ethics, are not allowed to evaluate the university's activities.
At the same time, codes of ethics can be mandatory local normative acts or be of a recommendatory nature. For example, the KubSU Code of Corporate Culture refers to mandatory acts and contains controversial provisions — the requirement to respect and support family values, to focus on spirituality and patriotism, to take care of the positive image of the university, to follow a conservative style of dress. With reference to these provisions of the Code of Ethics Maxim Belomytsev was expelled.
Although in foreign universities codes of ethics rather fulfill the role of a public agreement between students and professors, which is aimed at creating a healthy atmosphere in universities and often has no legal force, in Russian universities they become a real tool of repression. For example, seven students of St. Petersburg State University were expelled precisely for violating the Universalist Code. According to the Ethics Commission, publishing anti-war materials and being "close" to an associate professor who was fired for "discrediting the army" violate the rules of the Universalist Code: "to represent the university with dignity in the non-university environment and take care of its reputation," as well as "not to exert undue influence on universalists to achieve any goals.
Academic leave as a hidden expulsion
Students cannot be expelled while on a leave. Sometimes students are able to take a leave before the administration orders the student's expulsion.
This is what happened to Ilya Isko, a student at Novosibirsk State Technical University. After Ilya's participation in the rally and a fine under the article on discreditayion of russian army, there was a risk of expulsion. But the student managed to get an academic leave. However, Ilya still did not return to his studies at NSTU - according to him, the leave of absence was necessary to maintain his deferment from the army.
Darya, an activist of the student association of the Moscow State Institute of Culture (MGIK) (the student's surname is not listed in open sources), was also sent on academic leave. The girl signed a petition, after which the university administration started to put pressure on her: they offered to expel her voluntarily and threatened that otherwise the administration would do it itself. Thanks to a dialog between Daria's mother and the university administration, they managed to agree on a leave of absence - the order was signed in less than a day from the moment of submission of the application, and the dean's office staff did not require any supporting documents, although, according to general practice, to leave on leave of absence one needs formal reasons, the list of which is set out in the acts of universities.
Universities have every right not to grant academic leave - and this is often the case if a student is under criminal prosecution and cannot attend classes.
For example, in 2022, the administration of SAFU (Northern (Arctic) Federal University, Arkhangelsk) did not allow Daria Poryadina to take the exam remotely and refused to grant her an academic leave. A similar situation was repeated in 2023, when SAFU expelled Olesya Krivtsova and Ilya Melkov. Olesya was under house arrest, so she could not attend the university, and she was denied academic leave. All of them were expelled due to failure of academic progress.
The same thing happened before the war: for example, Vladimir Metelkin, a defendant in the Doksa case, was expelled in 2021 when he was under house arrest and could not pass his university exams.
Yevgeny Sautin (Vladimir State University, Vladimir) tried to appeal against his expulsion after not being granted an academic leave. In 2022, the student left Russia because of searches in connection with anti-war graffiti, and the university refused to grant him an akadem without explaining the reasons. But the court sided with the institution, confirming the legality of its actions.
Student journalists and activists of student associations are under threat
Active public civic position is a direct way to pressure from the university. The absolute majority of activists face threats, and in some cases it goes as far as expulsion.
For 2022-2023 at least 5 young journalists were expelled: Daria Poryadina (SOTA), Evgeny Sautin ("Dovod"), Olesya Krivtsova (SOTA), Vasily Vorona (SOTA), Andrey Kichev (RusNews). Sautin and Poryadina left Russia. Vasily Vorona was expelled because of his participation in the rally despite the fact that he was working on an official editorial assignment.
Student Alexandra Zaitseva was expelled from St. Petersburg State University for her work in a student magazine: she was the editor-in-chief of the history department's media outlet Studen, where in June 2023 she wrote a post in support of seven anti-war students who had been expelled from the university several months earlier. The girl was anonymously denounced to the university's virtual admissions office, after which the ethics committee decided that Zaitseva had violated the Universalist Code and that her behavior was incompatible "with the high status of a student of St. Petersburg State University".
Engaging in university activism also negatively affects the educational track of students. For example, Alexander Mikheev, co-founder of the Eighth of February student union, told us that he was expelled from SPbSU in 2022. Members of the trade union committee shared
that Mikheev "actively expressed his position while defending the Faculty of Free Arts and Sciences back in the Save Smolny campaign in defense of Smolny University, before the union was formed." Alexander is now studying in Bishkek.
Political expulsions are recognized as illegal even in modern Russia — yet students rarely challenge them
To challenge the expulsion, you can apply to the court, prosecutor's office, Rosobrnadzor, Ministry of Education and Science, and the body that founded the educational institution (for example, the Ministry of Health in the case of medical schools or the Ministry of Culture in the case of cultural institutes). They can force the university to cancel the order.
Based on information from the media and our practice, in 2022-2023, only 20 expelled students tried to appeal the illegal actions of the university.
Of these, nine students were able to successfully challenge the expulsion orders:
- Timur Garipov, expelled from SPbSMU in 2022 — successfully appealed the expulsion in the Vyborg District Court of St. Petersburg;
- Andrei Kotenko, expelled from SPbSUP in 2022 — successfully appealed the expulsion in the Kaluga Regional Court;
- Eduard Koval, expelled from Kolyvan Agrarian Technical School in 2022 — successfully appealed the expulsion through the prosecutor's office and the regional Ministry of Education and Science;
- Anna Afanasyeva, expelled from SPbSMU in 2022 — according to Anna, the case was dismissed in court because the university canceled the expulsion order;
- Five female students expelled from Novocherkassk Medical College in 2023 — success as a result of appeals to the Prosecutor's Office, the Ombudsman, deputies.
Six students failed to regain their driver's license:
- Antonina Begacheva and Polina Lysenko, expelled from Plekhanov Russian Economic University in 2022 — the courts of first instance sided with the girls (decision in Antonina's case, decision in Polina's case), but in further challenges the court supported the university administration (decision in Antonina's case, decision in Polina's case);
- Evgeny Sautin, expelled from the secondary vocational education program of Vladimir State University in 2022 — failed to appeal against the refusal to grant academic leave and expulsion (decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court of Vladimir, decision of the Vladimir Regional Court);
- Victor Novogorsky, expelled from MarSU in 2023 — appeals to a public organization, the rector and an open letter to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science did not help the student to be reinstated at the university;
- Nikita Raichuk, expelled from KubSU in 2023 — courts of all instances (first, appellate, cassation) sided with the university administration;
- Alexander Shimanov, expelled from the Karelian College of Arts in 2023 — appealing to the college director, the pedagogical council, the Ministry of Culture of Karelia did not help.
Five students (Dmitry Kuzmin, Maxim Belomytsev, Ilya Melkov, Olesya Krivtsova, Kirill Kaverin) are now in the appeal process.
By analyzing suspension histories from 2022-2023, we identified four factors that help students protect their rights:
1 - Publicity
Universities take care that there are as few "negative" publications about them as possible. The publicity of the incident does not allow the university to "cover up" the expulsion.
Anna Afanasyeva, whom the administration of St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University called a "potentially dangerous object in the human sense of the word" and expelled because she went to an anti-war rally in her last year of university, shared with us that the university canceled the decision to expel her even before the case was heard in court, precisely because the media started writing about her expulsion (1 and 2). Also, St. Petersburg MP Boris Vishnevsky publicly became involved in the situation.
Akim Tuktarov, head of Boris Nadezhdin's headquarters in Ufa, was also reinstated at the Ufa University of Science and Technology thanks to a wide public discussion. Many regional and federal media wrote about Tuktarov's case: 1, 2, 3, 4. As a result, the university canceled the expulsion order.
2 - Seeking professional legal assistance
All of the successful cases we are aware of that have challenged deductions have involved professional attorneys or lawyers.
Andrei Kotenko, who was expelled from St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University, turned to politician Elvira Vihareva for help - the student's interests in court were represented by lawyers who successfully recovered more than half a million rubles from the university. Timur Garipov was assisted by lawyers from Network Freedoms. Eduard Koval was reinstated in college after the lawyers of "Molnia" got involved in the case.
3 - Appeal to state ombudsmen and deputies
Ombudsmen and local deputies help to 'add weight' to the case for deductions.
The legal tools of both deputies and ombudsmen are rather limited: in fact, they can only draw the attention of the authorities to the problem (for example, the ombudsman can explain to the applicant the ways of protecting his rights, refer his complaint to the competent authority and request explanations from officials). But in practice, the prosecutor's office and other bodies usually respond more promptly to deputy complaints — although by law the time limits for consideration of deputy requests and appeals of citizens are the same.
Typically, referral to ombudsmen works in conjunction with other factors, such as public outcry.
For example, five female students who were expelled from the Novocherkassk Medical College because they wore hijabs, with the help of lawyers, appealed to all kinds of bodies: the prosecutor's office, the Ombudsman's office, and the Rostov Region Parliament. The situation was commented on by the Human Rights Ombudsman of the neighboring Chechen Republic, who appealed to the Rostov Oblast Ombudsman, who was asked to look into the situation with the expulsion of the girls and "take measures to protect their rights.
Deputy Boris Vishnevsky appealed to the rector of the university about the expulsion of Anna Afanasyeva and to the St. Petersburg prosecutor about Timur Garipov.
4 - Legally weak position of the university
The courts usually support the strongest side of the conflict (the public institution, i.e., the university or college) over the weaker side (the students).
But the chances of student success increase if the university makes gross errors in the expulsion procedure: for example, it does not request an explanatory statement from the student or expels "one day".
These were the violations cited by the lawyers of Timur Garipov, who was expelled one day in March 2022 for going to an anti-war rally: the student was invited to a conversation with the vice-rector, who suddenly turned out to be the expulsion committee. The management falsified the minutes of this meeting — allegedly Garipov confessed that he purposefully went to the "unauthorized rally". But the student recorded the meeting on a tape recorder and was able to prove the falsity of the protocol. The court sided with Timur because the administration committed procedural violations by not requesting an explanatory note from the student before the expulsion committee.
The university may simply ignore the court proceedings, as it happened in Andrei Kotenko's case. The university did not send its lawyer to the trial, and the judge sided with the student, awarding a $10 000 compensation in absentia. After that, the university still began to deal with the case and succeeded in having the judgment in absentia overturned, but later the Zhukovsky District Court of the Kaluga Region still awarded the student compensation, albeit in a smaller amount.
But not always the obviousness and grossness of the violation helps students to obtain a defense. For example, in the case of Antonina Begacheva and Polina Lysenko, students of Plekhanov Russian Economic University, the district court sided with the girls — the expulsion orders were canceled. However, the university appealed the court decision. In the appeal and in the cassation, the court supported the stronger side, ignoring procedural violations (the students were not asked for explanations and were not properly notified about the act of violation drawn up against them).
What happens to students after expulsion
Students are a socially vulnerable category of people: because of their age, lack of work experience and financial resources, they are particularly dependent on the institutions where they study and which provide them with scholarships, dormitories and professional development opportunities.
If expelled, students lose all student benefits and guarantees, as well as deferment from compulsory service and mobilization, often putting their lives at risk and forcing them to flee the country.
The academic and professional tracks of expelled students are obviously suffering: architect Maxim Belomytsev, expelled from KubSU for his Instagram posts, is no longer receiving higher education, and the Institute of History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences refused to work with Daniil Podluzhny, expelled from St. Petersburg State University, on a grant.
The historian Dmitry Kuzmin, who was expelled from St. Petersburg State University, enrolled in Herzen State University, but soon he was expelled from there as well, stating in the expulsion order that he "did not meet the status of a universal student" (the order is at the disposal of "Molnia"). Now Dmitriy is preparing to enter the program of Free Sciences and Arts in Montenegro.
Not only Dmitriy continued his studies in other countries: after being expelled from St. Petersburg State University, Alexander Mikheev enrolled in a program for students forced to emigrate. Daria Poryadina and Olesya Krivtsova are now studying at the European Humanities University in Lithuania.
The pressure on students is not limited to expulsion alone — sometimes the tension increases. For example, students expelled from St. Petersburg State University were denounced to the Center "E": no criminal cases were opened on the traces of the denunciation, but after the denunciations and the scandal in the media, many of them decided not to appeal against the expulsion orders.
Expulsion, like activism in general, is an often frustrating and isolating experience. Pressure from the administration and classmates can take a toll on mental health, and not all young people have enough support to get through this situation. In September 2022, Rostislav Karelin
was expelled from Moscow's Emergencies Ministry Academy — he allegedly violated the university's local acts by publishing an anti-war post. Karelin insisted that his profile had been hacked. In October 2022, Rostislav committed suicide. The publication "Holod" says that the girl who showed the anti-war post to the management, after Rostislav's death said that "it became easier to breathe in the Academy".
The motto of Stanford University is "Die Luft der Freiheit weht", which in German means "the wind of freedom blows". Russian universities are in the doldrums at the moment. But we are convinced that universities will be free if we continue to fight for civil and academic rights.
Authors: lawyers and Molnia researchers.