The acute need for new scientific staff allowed Novosibirsk State University to occupy a special position: new educational and sports buildings, and dormitories were built very quickly. The academic staff were trained quickly and the university opened even earlier than many of the scientific institutes. The scientists were enthusiasts who felt their development was limited in other large cities. They set out to create Siberia’s most unique educational project. They were the people who decided what Novosibirsk State University should be, defining and defending its principles and mission.
NSU grew together with Akademgorodok and created the special atmosphere in this scientific community. Top scientists gave lectures at the University. Many applied curricula were new throughout the entire Soviet Union. The remote location from the city center and some secrecy allowed for more freedom not only in scientific activities, but also in life.
Here, in Akademgorodok, the young and talented people who came here were not indifferent to the lives of others. The special status of the scientific center gave students courage. Here and only here, students could challenge the political agenda of the time. It was not safe (participants in political events were expelled from the University or scolded at official meetings), but it was safer than anywhere else. Here in Akademgorodok the desperate protest against the arrest of dissidents Ginzburg, Dobrovolsky, Lashkova and Galanskova was organized, and people showed their dissatisfaction with the invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The high intellectual level of the environment and a relatively high degree of freedom inspired the "anti-Soviet" bard Alexander Galich to give his first and last concert in the USSR at the legendary club "Under the Integral" in 1968 along with other bards.
Students not only liked to listen, but also to perform. The format was not X important. It could be discussions, songs, slogans, meetings, clubs of interest, CFIs. The main thing was to exchange ideas and contribute to the society, and therefore not to remain silent and not X hide your personal opinion. It was the NSU CFI team that told a bold and controversial joke from the stage in 1988. That joke was perceived by the society of perestroika as a metaphor for what was happening in the country, "The Party, let me lead!"
