RUSSIA: Moscow State student activists expelled

Four student activists who have been at the forefront of a campaign for better teaching and conditions at Russia's leading university for the past year have been expelled after being told they were not up to scratch academically. The students from Moscow State University's sociology faculty claim they were singled out after lobbying against suspect academic practice and unaffordable canteen prices.

The expulsions, announced earlier this month by faculty dean Vladimir Dobrenkovy, followed a year of conflict at the faculty. Students formed an action committee – the OD Group – to put pressure on faculty and university administrators to improve teaching and reduce what they claimed were outrageous "restaurant level" prices charged at a faculty canteen.

More than 30 students were involved in a series of actions and meetings at the university's main Sparrow Hills campus but action was taken only against the four key leaders. They were told the expulsions would be permanent and they would be denied the right to transfer to any other state university to finish their studies.

Svetlana Erpyleva, one of those expelled, said: "From the beginning of our studies we found ourselves under administrative pressure and noted numerous infringements in course delivery."

These included the presence of unknown observers at session examinations, lack of explanation for poor exam results for students who had achieved honours marks in the past and other incidents, she told Radio Ekho Moskvy.

At acrimonious meetings with the faculty dean, students were told their demands and actions were "immoral" and they were threatened with being sent down. The university had finally got "fed up" with them and carried out its threats, another expelled student, Oleg Zhuravlev, said. The students plan to appeal at a university court but said they held out little prospect of gaining justice.

Moscow State University declined to comment and a secretary at the sociology faculty slammed the phone down when asked to put a call through to the faculty dean.