The University of Glasgow has been criticised for investing heavily in the arms industry while claiming to be “committed to socially responsible investment”.[1] A list of investments supplied to us under freedom of information shows that the university held £1.9 million worth of shares in 16 nuclear weapons companies as at 30 September 2020:
| Company | Value of shares (£) |
| Airbus | 95,431 |
| BAE Systems | 523,987 |
| Boeing | 208,876 |
| Fluor | 28,274 |
| Honeywell International | 187,045 |
| Jacobs Engineering | 40,687 |
| L3 Harris | 30,479 |
| Leidos | 39,513 |
| Leonardo | 16,985 |
| Lockheed Martin | 155,648 |
| Northrop Grumman | 79,068 |
| Raytheon | 169,976 |
| Rolls Royce | 244,234 |
| Safran | 57,368 |
| Textron | 33,974 |
| Thales | 17,285 |
| Total | 1,928,830 |
The University of Glasgow has committed to divesting from oil and gas sectors by 2024 and fund managers are instructed not to invest in the tobacco industry. Fund managers are also required to “take account of any serious breaches of international law committed by companies”, according to the university’s Statement on Socially Responsible Investment.[2] However, there is no mention of weapons within the statement.
Action
In October 2019, six university societies came together to form the Glasgow University Arms Divestment Coalition (GUADC). [3] The coalition aims to persuade the university to divest completely from the arms industry.
GUADC held its first protest on 23 October at an arms trade recruitment fair at the university.[4] The university’s then-rector, lawyer Aamer Anwar, praised the students’ action, saying “if we really want to be ‘world changers’, the University of Glasgow should divest immediately from any company accused of complicity in war, misery and death”.[5]
After GUADC made representations to the University urging it to divest from the arms industry, the University of Glasgow Court (the governing body of the university) deliberated on the matter in June 2020. The University Court agreed to ban investment in companies that contravene international arms trade treaties to which the UK is party, and to write to the UK government to express concern about UK-made arms being exported to countries where human rights abuses are taking place[6]. However, the University Court rejected the call to comprehensively divest from the arms industry, concluding that these investments are “not contrary to the University’s value systems”.
GUADC stated that while it was “incredibly disappointed” with the University Court’s decision, “this is not the end of our campaign and we are committed to pursuing full divestment in line with the beliefs of the University of Glasgow community and the University’s own stated policy”.
If you are a student at the University of Glasgow, we encourage you to connect with GUADC. The coalition posts details of its regular meetings on social media:
- Twitter @GU_ADC
- Facebook facebook.com/GUADC/
- Instagram instagram.com/gu_adc
NOTES
[1] https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/sustainability/ethicalinvestment/.
[2] https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_597480_en.pdf.
[3] Amnesty International, Extinction Rebellion, Student Action for Refugees (STAR), the Palestine Society, the Glasgow Refugee and Asylum Seeker Solidarity (GRASS) and the Green Anti-Capitalist Front. See https://tinyurl.com/yaluznc6.
[4] https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/arms-trade-recruitment-fair-glasgow-university-set-attract-protesters-1404510.
[5] https://twitter.com/AamerAnwar/status/1187067864907505665.
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