Dear Vice-Chancellor, and members of the University Council,
We, the undersigned, are writing to you as students, and therefore beneficiaries, of the University of Cambridge, in support of the university’s complete divestment from arms companies.
As you know, the University of Cambridge manages its endowment by investing in the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF), run by a company (UCIM) of which the University is the sole owner. At its last publicly available valuation, the CUEF was estimated to be worth £4.2 billion. The entire UK higher education sector had an estimated £16.3 billion endowment in 2020, meaning that the CUEF alone accounts for approximately 25% of all investments in the sector. Yet that pales in comparison to our impact on financial markets. UCIM themselves remark that “Our greatest impact comes from our ability to influence our fund manager partners across the portfolio. As of 30 June 2024, our partners have nearly $750 billion of combined assets under management – demonstrating the scale of the opportunity for us to shape the sustainability agenda across the investment landscape.”
Where our university chooses to invest its money matters, and you have the ability to change that.
It is understood that the CUEF’s investments in arms companies are considered “small” at under 1.7%. That means our university could be investing as much as £70 million in arms companies - more than the entire GDP of Tuvalu. This is not a “small” amount of money. Furthermore, we reject any suggestion of an “acceptable” level of investment in weaponry. Arms companies continue to provide weaponry to facilitate occupation, war crimes and genocide in Gaza as well as in Yemen and Congo. Is there an acceptable level of human suffering caused by the bombs these investments produced?
The University of Cambridge’s mission is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Enabling and profiting from the creation of more destructive weapons cannot possibly be contributing to society. Instead, this harms the reputation of the University and our - its beneficiaries - faith in it. Divestment needn’t come with a financial cost, nor change to the investment model. The CUEF is expected to be net zero of carbon emissions by 2038 - a far more restrictive investment practice that has still allowed for returns far above industry norms.
We therefore ask you to reject the notion of investing in an “acceptable level” of human suffering. Instead, we ask you to use the power and privilege of your office to vote for a full divestment, exerting the University’s sizable influence to divert funds away from weapons and towards causes in line with our mission.
Kind regards,
Sign the letter here - https://forms.microsoft.com/e/LXr1HwzwPV