King's College Cambridge to divest millions from 'occupation' and arms industry
One of the University of Cambridge's largest colleges has decided to divest from the arms industry and companies complicit in "the occupation of Ukraine and Palestinian territories", following months of student protests.
King's College Cambridge, founded by Henry VI in 1441, announced this week that its governing body has agreed to "adopt a responsible investment policy" by the end of the calendar year.
As of March 2023, the institution invested £2.2m ($2.94m) in arms companies including Lockheed Martin, Korea Aerospace, and BAE Systems.
The college told its members on Tuesday that under the new policy, its financial investments will exclude companies that "are involved in activities generally recognised as illegal or contravening global norms, such as occupation".
Its investments will also exclude companies that "produce military and nuclear weapons, weapons restricted by international treaty, or companies that produce key or dedicated components of such weapons".
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King's has become the first Oxford or Cambridge college to take such measures, following months of protests by students at the college.
The college said that the new policy "builds on wide-ranging discussions within the college about its investments and its values, prompted by the occupation of Ukraine and Palestinian territories".
'A result of sustained pressure'
Student group King's Cambridge 4 Palestine said: "We welcome King's College's decision to commit to divestment, that came as a result of sustained pressure from KC4P and the Cambridge for Palestine Coalition as a whole.
"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 University is made up of 31 self-governing colleges which operate autonomously, including in their financial investments.
Many colleges have faced protests over their investments in the past 18 months.
A protest encampment demanding transparency about the university's own investments and divestment from companies complicit in Israel's war on Gaza was set up by the student group Cambridge for Palestine last May.
In July, Cambridge committed to funding opportunities for Palestinian academics and students to study at the university and pledged to establish a working group, including student representatives, to review its investments.
In response, Cambridge for Palestine ended the encampment.
But students accused the university in November of "stalling" on its commitments and resumed the protests, which turned into occupations of Senate House and Greenwich House, two university management buildings.
In February this year the university was granted a High Court order blocking protests related to Israel and Palestine on key university sites until the end of July.
An open letter signed by hundreds of students and members of staff at Cambridge in February condemned the university's application as an "assault on freedom of expression".
Middle East Eye revealed last year that Trinity, the university's wealthiest college, had $78,089 invested in Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms company, which produces 85 percent of the drones and land-based equipment used by the Israeli army.
Trinity students reported in May, after months of protests targeting the college, that they had been told it would divest from all arms companies.
However, the college refused to comment on its investments, and freedom of information requests, seen by MEE late last year, revealed that the college continued to maintain investments in arms companies.
In November, the college's master insisted that Trinity had "no interest in divesting from arms companies".
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