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Row over striptease 'initiation' ceremony at Siberian university

By 0 and 0 and 0
06 September 2016

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'The initiation was cool and what is now made of all this is just outright slander.' Picture: VK

Most of these history 'freshmen' - male and female - seem to be smiling but was there hidden pressure that forced them to full or mostly undress for this ceremony at Kemerovo State University?

But a growing row has brought the resignation of the dean of the Faculty of History and International Relations, Konstantin Yumatov, and starkly different views about what happened. 

First reports suggested taking part for the students, mostly aged 18, was voluntary and the event amounted to harmless fun, part of a competition to gain points for new students in a competition aimed at bonding.

But one female participant had a very different account. 'We tried to refuse, but the older students began to put pressure on us,' she said. 'At first, they just tried to persuade us. They said no-one will know about it. 

Kemerovo freshmen undressed

'We tried to refuse, but the older students began to put pressure on us.' Pictures: Vkontakte, VSE42


'When they failed, they started to threaten us with physical violence. There was talk that at night they will smear us with faeces, photograph everything, and put out to the web. We gave up and undressed.' 

They those making the threats said they were 'joking', she said. She also claimed university staff were present at tourist centre Podyakovo where the initiation ceremony took place. 

Another female participant said: 'I am very sorry for the Kemerovo State University, our faculty and the guys who had been preparing the initiation at Podyakovo. No one made the freshmen undress.

'As part of the three-day initiation, we participated in a competition, moving between locations, collecting points. One of the assignments was to score points for clothes. If you took off your jacket to T-shirt you get a certain number of points.

Konstantin Yumatov

The dean of the Faculty of History and International Relations, Konstantin Yumatov, quit over the incident. Picture: KemSU

'Most of the freshmen remained in jeans and T-shirts. In our group, no one stood naked, all were dressed. The guys in the picture decided to undress by themselves. Someone took a picture of it and posted on the web. Some very mean person.'

Another student Svetlana L said: 'A strip contest was part of the game, the essence of which was to score as many points as possible. Each undressed as much as he or she liked, some of the guys were wearing jackets. 

'The game lasted no longer than five minutes. The claim that undergraduates promised to smear freshmen with faeces is not true. I was shocked to hear this. The undergraduates are great guys. The initiation was cool and what is now made of all this is just outright slander.'

There were claims that some of the students were expelled from the university but this was denied. However, Yumatov quit over the incident.

Comments (4)

Simply stupid, dumbed-down and over-sexistic crap disguised as something "fun and cool", people should abstain from this cultural Marxist brainwashed self-degrading and damaging behavior.
Koskenkorva, Finland
18/09/2016 10:03
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Nice!
Svatopluk, Czech Republic
08/09/2016 19:45
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Take care of that games, as Jaker says bullies exist everywhere, and at that young age maybe not everybody has realized it.

For the partying side, at least give them some condoms!
Andres Suarez, Cancun, Mexico
07/09/2016 12:49
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There's bully's in every school & university world-wide. If people (young students) say they don't want to partake in practices like this, then that should be their right. I don't believe the student that said, the threats didn't happen, because that's what normally happens when bullies rule the roost. If these young students say "NO" to stripping or any other extreme behavior, then that should mean "No"!
Jaker, Dundalk
07/09/2016 06:22
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