From Lenta.ru:
Students at a Crimean Higher Education Institute Punished for Sex-Initiation
In the Crimea, a group of students from Tavricheskiy National University have been punished for staging an “initiation ceremony” for first years, which included simulating sexual acts, Crimea24.info are reporting.
With reference to the official site of the TNU (Tavricheskiy National University) faculty of mathematics, the news agency report that one of the event’s organisers, the fifth-year Stansilav Petrenko has received a serious reprimand. Another four students (in second, third and fourth years) received normal reprimands.
Information about the reprimands has been posted on the TNU faculty of mathematics’s VKontakte page. It is true that on the site, it is only indicated that there has been this kind of “official reaction” (but the exact nature of the reprimands is not specified). There is also a message posted on the page, saying “linked to recent events” there will be a referendum on the question of re-election of the leadership of the students’ union.
The aforementioned “initiation ceremony” took place on the 20th September in the botanical gardens of TNU, according to Information Sevastopol. A video was uploaded to YouTube (but later deleted).
Some parts of the incident can be seen on TSN. The first years had to simulate sex scenes from the Kama Sutra. As mentioned, fifth-year Stanislav Petrenko supervised, selecting pairs of students and giving them cards with an image of the scene they had to act out. The first years were told that “until you’ve done it, you’re not going anywhere.”
Later, commenting on the event in the publication “In the City”, Petrenko said that this kind of “competition” for TNU maths faculty first years has been going on for several years. According to him, the current first-year students who have been “initiated”, have not even written a statement to the Dean of the Faculty. Petrenko says that he did not force anyone to participate in this event.
The faculty’s administration, speaking in the publication “Commentary”, stated that they did not know that these “initiation ceremonies” were being conducted. Last week, Dean Oleg Rudnitskiy said “This is unacceptable. We have started to hear rumours about this. Naturally, the organisers will be punished. They will probably be reprimanded.”
Comments from Lenta.ru:
Оппозиционный хомячок:
Fun.
It was a bit more boring in my day.
Человек вождя:
This plague has reached as far as the Crimea.
Наполеончик: (responding to above)
The Kama Sutra?
веселый ма-алочник: (also responding to above)
Sex?
ТОКУО 5НОСК:
Normal initiation for nerds, like in any of these higher education institutes.
tartarelin: (responding to above)
O_O
First I’ve heard about it.
Коты:
I also think that issuing sex is unacceptable.
[Note: the Russian words for imitate and issue are written very similarly.]
LeSer (Иностранный Агент) (21+): (responding to above)
Only hardcore
свободу попугаем!!!: (responding to above)
More importantly, it’s impossible to issue sex.
Петя (18+): (responding to above)
Ooh yeah you can. Any old brothel is an issuer.
CENTaur: (responding to above)
So who then are the emissaries?
Hobotishe:
Stupid students.
Морква:
In our time, the initiation was as follows: first years covered a field and thoroughly abused alcohol with the older students who had been invited. Of course, there was dancing, singing, and indiscriminate fraternisation at the end. None of these humiliating “ceremonies” or hazing in the dorms ever happened.
Kostas:
Guys, I am a student of TNU. I know Stas and the other “culprits” personally, they’re really sound and decent guys. The competition was a fun event, typical for students. Nobody MAKES anyone go through it. The freshers themselves (!) wrote to the dean afterwards a paper saying that no one made them do it, and that they don’t have any complaints against the older students. They voluntarily participated and they liked the event itself, being initiated with all the others. They’re making mountains out of molehills. I’m with the Physics Department, we also have a quest-like initiation competition, for which involvement, of course, is optional. It’s just normal student fun. Believe me, in dorms, nightclubs, and even at some weddings, there are much more “tough” competitions in that regard.
What do you think? Are initiation ceremonies a normal part of life? Or is this beyond the pale?