«No 47 : 30 November 1977»

2 ITEMS

[1]

LENINGRAD.

In May 1977 Sergei Levin, a senior laboratory worker at the Leningrad University Research Institute of Mathematics, had to face a special review of his qualifications (CCE 45.18 [3]).

In April the union official in his laboratory, junior scientific worker Andrei Grigorevich FILIPPOV, refused to sign a character report on Levin prepared by the laboratory authorities, as he considered the report was not objective. (Later the Commission on Labour Disputes at Leningrad State University admitted that the accusations made against Levin by the laboratory authorities were unfounded and the dismissal notice issued to him was cancelled.) V.M. Chebanov, the head of the laboratory, told Filippov that his refusal would lead to unpleasant consequences for him.

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[2]

In June 1977 Filippov himself was due to have his research position reviewed. In the character report he was given it was stated that he had committed a number of actions showing his political immaturity. Nevertheless, as a result of Filippov’s account of his scientific work, the laboratory recommended that he should be confirmed in his post.

The review of Filippov’s position was postponed from June to September. He was asked to repeat bis work-report. His academic supervisor refused to participate in a second discussion of his work. This time the laboratory did not recommend his re-employment.

On 28 September 1977 Filippov wrote a statement to the Academic Council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics at Leningrad University. After describing what had happened, he concluded:

“… It should be pointed out that all the time I was working I made no demands on the administration or my academic superiors; on the contrary, I was regularly awarded prizes (every year) for successful work on tasks I had been allotted. In addition, the laboratory’s report deliberately keeps silent about the fact that I prepared two articles for publication, which were approved by my academic supervisor and my colleagues at the laboratory.

“The adverse character of the selection commission’s conclusions, which you put forward, is, therefore, due not to my lack of scientific productivity, but to the ’political immaturity’ attributed to me.”

On 29 September the Academic Council decided, by 23 votes to 7, not to renew Filippov’s contract. Volkov, the deputy dean of the faculty, made a speech at the meeting, saying that he must not be ‘re-employed’, in order to protect the students from an unwholesome ideological influence.

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