(The University of the Steppe)
There was a recent scandal in the hypnology department, unethical research by a Dr Svetlana Bimbonova into gender identity reassignment via memetic techniques for monetary gain. She's been fired, but apparently she took all her notes with her.
I’m pleased to say that the Russian Department haven’t taken much notice of you, which is good because they’re the lifeblood of this joint because they bring in all the foreign students. It’s weird, I just took their introductory course and I’m already thinking in Russian more than I am in English.
So it looks like that the NOVOST Group is pouring money into the university now, like, to nearly every department. I haven't found any kind of shared ventures yet, but it looks like they're trying to buy the place for all intents and purposes.
The Geology Department is headed by Iosif Tarasovich Chemeris, who was absolutely a spook in a previous life. I'm choosing not to dig in his past because I'm pretty sure he'll know if I do and would personally kill me. Anyway, it's a closed department for the most part, but because I got my degree in Geology I've been able to talk shop and ingratiate myself a bit. So it seems like the highest level of the department are essentially info dealers, selling info on the Underground at a high price. They're not a fan of Zhutova over at the Central State Library and her part in the Excavators of the Underground Earth, seeing as they're open source with their cartography, but she and Chemeris must have some kind of understanding.
The Cosmos Project has a lot of elements within the university, they dominate the theology and philosophy departments, and are jockeying for full control of the engineering department.
The Dean of the Philosophy Department, Professor Ivan Illyich Sevostyanov, is pushing for your dismissal because of your reckless endangerment of students at your dig. I think he might have flipped one of your grad students.
Dr Abbas Baghdadi, the visiting lecturer on archaeology, seems particularly interested in your work, but he's being tight lipped about it. I don't know why, but he won’t ask anything directly.
Stesha Dmitrievna Levkina, chief of the school of pharmacology, is pushing for your dismissal. I think he was in on that ketamine scheme your students nearly publicly revealed. I'm still not sure who all the buyers were, but I know one of the guys involved reads that Neo-Nazbol magazine.
Most of the engineering departments are mourning Krivkov, and a large portion is calling for his killers to be brought to justice. I'm getting the impression it's riddled with Cosmos goons. There are a few who seem less enthused though, Professor Tikhon Valerianovich Yablonev being chief among them was apparently a part of a rival organization to Krivkov's Cosmos Project that call themselves the Materialists. Yablonev is now heir apparent to current department chair Ustin Romanovich Balsunov, who has tried to keep peace between the two factions in his department.
It looks like even if you get Mayami Import to lay off, you're going to have to fight to get your dig re-approved. Osip Nurseyev of the Steppe Religions department is apparently spearheading that effort. Apparently he's a minor member of some Shamanic outfit calling themselves the Red Ordo.
The art department is surprisingly friendly towards you. The only illegal thing going on over there are their ties to CounterDogma. I’m also positive I’ve spotted at least two undercover cops. The whole CounterDogma thing is kind of an open secret, but one that they’re also surprisingly tight lipped about. Anyway, it probably wouldn't be too hard to get some of them to vouch for you.
As far as the student body goes, the factions with the most pull are the Neo-Nazbols, CounterDogma, and Krasnaya Zvezda to a lesser extent. From what I can tell, there aren’t a huge amount of card carrying party members, but most of the kids like them for all the DIY shows they put on and that nifty nightclub they got. CounterDogma is big with the LGBTQ crowd, for obvious reasons, and Krasnaya Zvezda has a recruiter in the form of an American exchange student named Molly Redwood, but is better known by her twitter handle “Red Zenobia”. She’s a huge bitch, apparently.
Do you have anything in your past that they could use against you, professor? Because my pal at the library tells me several people are combing through your entire publication history. Good thing you churn those things out like hot-cakes, prof, because it's keeping them busy. Also, it doesn't look like they're all coordinating, because some of them are asking for copies others are already reading. For someone so polite, you're really good at pissing folks off, anyone ever tell you that?
Anyway, it's a shitty situation, but it's not unbeatable, prof. I dont think you'll be able to get re-approved for the dig, maybe any dig, but I think we can beat this call for dismissal. I'd also like to note that this just means we would need to find alternate forms of funding for future digs. I can write up a couple proposals.
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