Dear Colleagues,

I was deeply moved by the level of support that the European University at St. Petersburg received from our colleagues at the BASEES conference last weekend and I am grateful for being able to make a presentation about EUSP. I am writing this because our foreign colleagues keep asking us how they can help. We think that collective letters addressed to the government institutions will have no, or little, effect. Instead, we believe that colleagues who are concerned about the future of EUSP would help most by doing one of several things listed below:

1. Those who hold Russian passports and have official registration in Russia write official letters to one or all of the following: The Ministry of Education, the office of the Prime Minister, and the Governor’s office in St. Petersburg. So long as every such letter contains the name and passport/registration data of the author has, by law, to be answered within 30 days. If you know colleagues and have friends who can do this for us we would appreciate it greatly.

2. Write op-eds or social media articles/blogs highlighting the positive value of the EUSP in terms of its scientific and scholarly/educational achievement. Please refrain from a critique of the central government, particularly the administration of the president which has been on our side.

3. Western colleagues can lobby important official such as vice-chancellors, provosts, or very well internationally known professors (even Nobel prize winners) to give lectures and help us position the EUSP as a leading institution in Russia. The Russian press and government take note of such prestigious visitors and this can help us greatly.

4. Your professors can apply to take part in our conferences, for example the one on the concept of dignity in June: https://eu.spb.ru/en/announcements/17364-dostoinstvo-kak-istoricheskoe-ponyatie-i-tsentralnaya-kategoriya-nashego-vremeni

5. You can donate books to our university, writing “we support the EUSP” on them;

With best wishes,

Veljko Vujacic

Provost EUSP

Letter from Veljko Vujacic, provost of the European university at St Petersburg