THE University of Glasgow is facing fury from staff and students after its ruling body opted to continue investing in arms firms supplying Israel.
The National has seen an email sent by the institution’s management to staff and students outlining how, despite overwhelming opposition, the university decided not to divest from weapons firms.
It states: “Court [the governing body of the University of Glasgow] considered … that the University’s endowment fund should disinvest completely in companies that earn more than 10% of their income from the defence sector. This view was backed by a clear majority of staff and students who responded to the consultation exercise.
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“However, Court accepted the advice of senior managers that the university should not require fund managers to disinvest, firstly because this could be interpreted as a signal that the university was opposed to the existence of the UK defence sector and secondly in recognition of the university’s ongoing research relationships with a range of firms active in this area.”
Figures included at the end of the email make clear that around 2400 people responded to the survey (500 staff and 1900 students), and that “most staff (81%) and student (86%) respondents were in favour of divestment”.
The endowment fund was worth £262 million at the end of July 2024, the email said. A publicly available list of investments from 2023 includes shares in weapons firms linked to Israel such as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Thales.
“I feel disgusted at myself for accepting a paycheque from the University of Glasgow,” one member of staff told The National. “I was very upset yesterday. I was ready to quit my job.
“My bosses, [principal] Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli and [deputy vice chancellor] David Duncan, these are ultimately the people who run the company that I work for. They run the institution, and their decisions are just compromising everything that I believe in.”
Another member of staff told this paper that they felt “disgust” at their employer’s decision – which they said came after a survey that felt like a tick-box exercise from management.
“I think they've already made up their mind before they send these sorts of things out,” they said. “It's just part of the process for them to do it and then ignore it.”
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Analysis of the 2023 list suggests that the total sum of shares in defence companies held by the University of Glasgow is £3.1m. However, it is hard to know exactly what funding sits where. For example, firms like Boeing manufacture both missiles and commercial jets.
One member of staff quoted a similar figure, which they called a “drop in the ocean”.
“It’s such a small amount of money, when you look at their entire investment portfolio. They could literally just divest it,” they said.
“How can the University of Glasgow reconcile its values as an institution [with funding arms firms]?
“You can look at the values which are like fairness, openness, equality, things like that. How can it call itself all of those things?”
She added: “In light of the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defence minister, it calls into question the university’s complicity.
“We commend the university in investing in scholarships for Palestinians and helping to rebuild education in Gaza. However, these actions feel hollow as the university has done the easy rather than the right thing, going against their stated values.
“We will no doubt see further disruption from students and unions who have been campaigning passionately for the university to disinvest from these companies for years.”
Asked for comment, the University of Glasgow sent the same email which The National had already seen and quoted above.
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