How Russian Academia Enforces "Traditional Values"
Since 2022, repression against LGBTQ+ students and faculty in Russian universities has intensified. Between 2022 and 2024, at least 17 cases of discrimination were documented, including expulsions, harassment, and threats. In some incidents, the source of the harassment was other students. Faculty members have also increasingly expressed openly homophobic views, often with the implicit assurance that such statements won’t provoke any backlash.
Universities have begun extending their control beyond academics into students’ private lives — monitoring appearance, social media activity, and even initiating raids in dormitories and at student parties to identify LGBTQ+ symbols. This climate has forced many LGBTQ+ students into increased secrecy and caution, especially those already facing double stigma due to both their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Notable Recent Incidents
In the summer of 2024, several students at the Far Eastern Federal University were threatened with expulsion for volunteering with Boris Nadezhdin’s campaign and sharing rainbow flags in a private group chat. Though the expulsions never materialized, the human rights group Molniya deemed the threats themselves unlawful.
In May 2024, Danila Morozov, a student at the Higher School of Economics, was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for displaying LGBTQ+ symbols. He was subsequently expelled from the Youth Parliament under the State Duma. Later that fall, Moscow State University student Kristina S. was fined 500,000 rubles for so-called “LGBTQ+ propaganda,” an amount that represents a severe burden for financially unstable students.
In 2023, a transgender student in Penza reported receiving threats from classmates after the university administration refused to expel him. Another transgender student in a different region, according to the organization Sphere, faced harassment and denunciation, and was later physically assaulted by a peer for wearing a rainbow badge and a ribbon in Ukrainian flag colors. The university sided with the attacker.
This growing trend of institutional surveillance, censorship, and punishment marks a broader cultural shift in Russian academia — from a space of learning and critical thought to one of ideological enforcement and fear.
Universities have begun extending their control beyond academics into students’ private lives — monitoring appearance, social media activity, and even initiating raids in dormitories and at student parties to identify LGBTQ+ symbols. This climate has forced many LGBTQ+ students into increased secrecy and caution, especially those already facing double stigma due to both their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Notable Recent Incidents
In the summer of 2024, several students at the Far Eastern Federal University were threatened with expulsion for volunteering with Boris Nadezhdin’s campaign and sharing rainbow flags in a private group chat. Though the expulsions never materialized, the human rights group Molniya deemed the threats themselves unlawful.
In May 2024, Danila Morozov, a student at the Higher School of Economics, was sentenced to 15 days of administrative arrest under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for displaying LGBTQ+ symbols. He was subsequently expelled from the Youth Parliament under the State Duma. Later that fall, Moscow State University student Kristina S. was fined 500,000 rubles for so-called “LGBTQ+ propaganda,” an amount that represents a severe burden for financially unstable students.
In 2023, a transgender student in Penza reported receiving threats from classmates after the university administration refused to expel him. Another transgender student in a different region, according to the organization Sphere, faced harassment and denunciation, and was later physically assaulted by a peer for wearing a rainbow badge and a ribbon in Ukrainian flag colors. The university sided with the attacker.
This growing trend of institutional surveillance, censorship, and punishment marks a broader cultural shift in Russian academia — from a space of learning and critical thought to one of ideological enforcement and fear.