RSPU professor was fired for old posts on social networks

Tatiana Kudryavtseva, head of the Department of General History at the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, was fired because of two old Instagram posts (owned by Meta, recognized as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation). She announced this on September 9 on her Vkontakte page.

"I wrote a statement without giving any reason why I was quitting in the middle of the school year and with my contract just extended," the teacher wrote.

According to her, the reason for the dismissal was the publications of 2020 and 2021. One of them depicted graffiti "in one of the St. Petersburg courtyards of a famous and now deceased politician, recognized as an extremist, terrorist <...> years after this photo was taken." The second post contained the caption "Omnia vincit amor" ("Love conquers everything").

The university administration called Kudryavtseva's publications "a demonstration of prohibited symbols" and advised the teacher to leave the university.

The professor emphasized in a Vkontakte post that she had not published "anything that could discredit HER to any extent." The head of the department, who has worked at the university for 30 years, said that she transferred funds to Russian charitable foundations that help civilians and soldiers.

Leave the classroom: teachers quit due to low pay and workload

Older teachers are more likely to leave due to lack of respect for the profession, while younger ones are more likely to leave due to burnout.

Olga Golyshenkova, chairman of the commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for education, upbringing and preservation of historical memory, said on September 5 that it was illegal to dismiss or punish teachers who posted their own pictures in swimsuits on social networks. According to the expert, any strict measures in response to such actions would be erroneous, and this issue requires systematic study. According to her, it is important to work with the self-awareness of teachers, students and society as a whole.

The court recovered 1.5 million rubles from the employer for the illegal dismissal of a St. Petersburg resident in August of this year. The amount includes the average earnings for almost a year of forced absenteeism and compensation for moral damage.