Ilya Ponomarev speaks at an event held by WashU’s Alexander Hamilton Society. (Jonah Glass | Contributing Photographer)

Former member of Russian parliament, Ilya Ponomarev, spoke about Russian censorship and indoctrination in contemporary Russian society in a talk organized by the WashU Alexander Hamilton Society (AHS) on Oct. 8. AHS held the event in response to what they view as the University’s deprioritization of the Russian department and Global Studies as a whole.  

“This event is the first of many in response to WashU’s failure to prioritize the needs of global society through investment in departments like the Russian department,” said junior Solana Sorokina-Mobbs, chapter president of the WashU Alexander Hamilton Society. “Russia is a primary aggressor and threat to world peace, yet the Russian department at WashU is dying, on the verge of being “merged,” and students have long been disinterested in the field.”

AHS expressed concerns about the future of Global Studies at WashU and shared with Student Life their own plans to advocate for the importance of a Global Studies education by holding more talks with figures like Ponomarev.

Part of their concerns are tied to WashU’s recent plans to potentially merge several departments. The Russian department is administered by the Global Studies department at WashU, which is one of the departments the school proposed to consolidate. However, on Tuesday Oct. 21, Dean Feng Sheng Hu of the College of Arts & Sciences announced the dissolution of the task force considering the departmental merger, citing significant student and faculty concerns.    

The talk centered around the ongoing conflict in Russia and Ukraine, the history of censorship and propaganda in Russia, and how Ponomarev has worked to combat the issues facing Russian citizens today. He discussed the importance of an American reframing of Russian society in order to better facilitate American engagement with conflicts abroad.

In an interview with Student Life, Ponomarev expressed his frustration with the U.S. government’s approach to Russian politics and highlighted higher education institutions as key players in shaping the ways young Americans view Russia, and tangentially, foreign disputes overall.

In line with AHS’s disappointment in WashU’s lack of Global Studies investment, Ponomarev also shared his concerns about the consequences of American universities’ disinvolvement with these global issues.

“Everything that is related to Russia became recently toxic in the academic community … and to me, this is a mistake, because you should know your enemy,” Ponomarev said. “It’s not necessarily that you need to admire Russia, but you need to understand Russia.”

Ponomarev asserts that it is this lack of understanding that allows students to fall prey to propaganda and misinformation.

Sophomore Itai Komoroff attended the talk and found it insightful.  

“It was an eye-opening experience to discuss geopolitics with Mr. Ponomarev and gain insights into Russia’s use of fear as a means of control and suppression.”

Sophomore Ari Blumenthal told Student Life that he liked that the society provided a space to learn about these topics. 

“The Hamilton Society is doing a good job bringing a kind of classic liberal arts education to campuses like WashU where areas like the Russian department aren’t strongly supported. They’re helping fill a gap and making sure students still get exposure to global issues,” Blumenthal said. 

The society was particularly motivated by the small size of the Russian department. Sorokina-Mobbs shared that for several years, the department had only one faculty member, Professor Mikhail Palatnik.

“Professor Mikhail Palatnik is the language teacher, but due to the lack of variety in what the department has to offer, he has often mixed culture, history, and current events into his language classes, which are only 50 minutes long,” Sorokina-Mobbs said.

WashU has recently hired a new faculty member, Professor Mariia Kurbak, who is cross-listed as a Russian and Global Studies professor, which Sorokina-Mobbs views as a step in the right direction. However, she still thinks the school needs to make many more changes to get the Global Studies departments to where it needs to be.

“WashU also has so much power and money to do on a bigger scale what Alexander Hamilton Society tries to do, yet things are quiet,” Sorokina-Mobbs said.