Cambridge college cuts ties with arms firms after Gaza backlash
A University of Cambridge college has announced it will divest from arms companies after long-running student protests over the war in Gaza.
King's College said on Tuesday it would cut its financial ties with defence firms to 'align our approach to investments with the values of our community'.
A spokesman said the decision was 'prompted by the occupation of Ukraine and Palestinian territories' and made following advice from 'external experts'.
It is the first Oxbridge college to announce it will divest from firms linked to the production of military equipment following a wave of student encampments following the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East.
King's College has been the epicentre of recent protest activity at Cambridge, with students holding a 100-day encampment on the lawn outside its main building on King's Parade last year.
In an email to students, Dr Gillian Tett, the college's provost, said its governing body had voted on Monday night to divest from any companies that are 'involved in activities generally recognised as illegal or contravening global norms, such as occupation'.
The move will also see King's College axe its financial links with organisations that 'produce military and nuclear weapons' or components used to make arms equipment.
Dr Tett said the announcement 'builds on wide-ranging discussions within the college about the relationship between its investments and its values, prompted by the occupation of Ukraine and Palestinian territories'.
She said the college would remove arms firms from its investment portfolio 'in the coming months and, we aim, by no later than the end of the calendar year'.
King's College, which counts mathematician Alan Turing, Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm and economist John Maynard Keynes among its late alumni, is thought to have about £2.2 million indirectly invested in more than 50 companies linked to arms production.
An investigation by the Varsity student newspaper in 2023 found that the college's shares in the industry increased by more than £700,000 over the preceding five years.
The college declined to disclose which companies it would now divest from when asked by The Telegraph. It also would not provide details of the amounts that had been invested.
College says debate predates Gaza war
A spokesman told The Telegraph that the conversation about arms divestment at Cambridge 'has been happening for years, well before the current conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine'.
In a statement published on its website, King's College said it was keen to 'take account of ethical and other issues of social responsibility' in relation to its £300 million endowment fund.
The college added that it had already 'fully divested from all direct investments in fossil fuels and invests positively in environmental markets'.
King's College's governing body includes around 100 fellows, four elected students and its provost.
In June 2024, the college announced a review of 'responsible investments' following a series of student demonstrations calling for it to divest from Israel-linked companies. The protests included a 'die-in' held on the college's lawn earlier that month.
In May 2024, King's Cam for Palestine (KC4P), a student-led campaign group, disrupted an event held by Dr Tett and accused it of platforming 'Zionists and military affiliates'.
The event was a discussion on 'feminism and cybersecurity' and its panel included the director of GCHQ, whom protesters accused of having 'reprehensible involvement in the genocide on Gaza '.
King's College launched a 'responsible investment survey' in March this year, which was sent to all students at the college to collect views on arms investments.
Campaigners call for other colleges to follow suit
KC4P said on Tuesday that it welcomed the decision, which it claimed 'came as a result of sustained pressure from KC4P and the Cambridge for Palestine Coalition as a whole'.
It added in a statement: 'KC4P implore the university and other colleges to follow the example set by King's, although the decision comes far too late for the thousands of Palestinians who have been starved, tortured and killed at the hands of the Israeli state.'
Cambridge has been grappling with how to respond to student protests after dozens of encampments were organised at UK universities in the wake of Israel's response to the Oct 7 2023 attack by Hamas.
The Russell Group university was granted a High Court injunction earlier this year to ban disruptive protests from certain areas of its campus until the end of July. Officials had claimed more than 1,600 students had graduation events disrupted by pro-Gaza demonstrations last year.
King's College is considered the university's most politically active and has a reputation for radical politics. Its Left-wing history goes back to its founding in 1441 when it was established by King Henry VI to teach 12 scholars from poor backgrounds.
Since then, the college has had one of the highest numbers of state school students at the university. In 2023, 91 per cent came from such a background.
The flag of the Soviet Union infamously hung in its student bar for 14 years until 2018, when students at the college voted to have it removed.
A string of public bodies have bowed to recent pressure to divest from arms companies, including at least nine local authorities that have pulled their pension fund investments in British defence companies.
Dudley council in the West Midlands became the latest council to do so in March. The authority argued it could 'contribute towards peace' by scrapping millions of pounds of investment in firms involved 'directly or indirectly in arms production'.
The council, which is under no overall control, passed the motion with the support of Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors.
Four London councils – Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest – have also taken similar action in recent months following lobbying from pro-Palestinian groups.
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