Forty student unions across the country are calling on universities to break links with colonialism in an open letter to Universities UK.
According to NUS UK these SUs have joined over 795 other signatories – including MPs – in an open letter to demand that the education sector break their links with companies who uphold colonialism and imperialism.
The letter calls for universities and colleges to stop investing in and partnering with fossil fuel and arms companies.
Instead, signatories demand that money should be reallocated to fund anti-racist initiatives.
The letter was hand-delivered to Universities UK – the collective voice of 140 universities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – by the NUS UK President, Larissa Kennedy, and the NUS UK Vice-President for Higher Education, Hillary Gyebi-Ababio.
Before handing it over Larissa Kennedy commented: ‘We cannot continue the colonial function of our education institutions being directly complicit in colonial violence when it comes to the arms trade and fossil fuel companies, so we are here to tell Universities UK: absolutely no more. Divest to decolonise.’
NUS UK says as well as investments, links between education institutions and colonial companies often include universities platforming companies during career fairs and tailoring courses and research to secure funding.
Michelle Francis, a 22-year-old student at Bangor University added to the argument saying: ‘Students are unknowingly being forced to fund companies which uphold oppression, simply because we want to learn. Our tuition fees and rent are forcing us to use foodbanks, and for what?
‘So our universities can maximise their profits and invest our money into industries directly responsible for irreversible climate damage and arms companies funding ongoing genocides.’
Commenting on the open letter, J Clarke, Co-Director: Climate Justice at People & Planet, said the company is ‘proud’ to work with NUS UK on this matter.
Clarke said: ‘It is fantastic to see students and Student Unions continue a long history of standing in solidarity for justice on an international scale. With an unfolding climate crisis and war on every headline, it is now more important than ever that universities sever their ties to the corporations most responsible for climate and social injustice.
‘We are proud to work alongside NUS and many others in calling for divestment from the fossil fuel and weapons industry as the first step in playing an active role in a more just and equitable society.’