“It is way past time that Cambridge University demilitarised, for the sake of its students, academics and its reputation as an institution committed to the betterment of humanity.
By taking money from arms companies, the university which I proudly attended has besmirched its reputation and endorsed values of corruption, socio-economic wastage, climate despoilation, and the undermining of democracy and the rule of domestic and international law.”
Andrew Feinstein (Author ‘The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade’) in the foreword to The Cambridge Academic-Military Complex (7 March 2023).
What is the Cambridge Academic-Military Complex?
Cambridge is enmeshed in what we have termed a “military-academic complex”. Through this complex, the university has accepted £81 million worth of research grant from arms manufactures between 2002 and 2020. This appaling quid-pro-quo means the University directly assists arms companies with research, improving the “efficiency” of their killing machines.
It means arms companies can directly target students for recruitment, often without the necessary transparency. It means we as an institution are giving moral legitimacy, by lending our name and reputation, to companies complicity in countless human rights violations.
FEATURED NEWS
University has power but not will to demilitarise, say campaigners
The accusation comes following a meeting on the University’s divestment policy (4 May 2022)
NEWS & COMMENTARY
Outrage as arms companies attend careers fair
The presence of arms companies is evidence of the University’s ‘insidious’ relationship with the industry (15 Oct 2023)
Cambridge must cut ties with arms manufacturers
Cambridge must examine the ways it supports illegal wars around the world, argue Maddy Fisher, Talal Hangari, and Alicia Cash (23 April 2022).
Colleges hold over £6.5m in arms companies
Freedom of Information requests reveal a disturbing picture, write Rosie Bradbury, Noella Chye & Jack Hunter (9 Nov 2018)
Cambridge Radical Archives 