Campaign Option: Ethical Investment
Essential Info
Many academic institutions heavily invest or closely associate with companies that are guilty of facilitating war, human rights abuses or environmental degradation. Student led campaigns have traditionally focused on exposing the corporate crimes but not the university’s own financial investment in them.
BAE Systems’ arms productions and Shell’s human rights abuses and pollution of the Niger Delta are just two examples of companies heavily involved in British academic institutions. Their actions lead to devastating effects worldwide, sustaining conflict and diverting resources from health and education in some of the world’s most impoverished regions.
Investment in a company amounts to tacit support of that company’s actions; as members of a University whose rents and fees contribute to the maintenance of the institution, we are morally implicated in the abuses perpetuated by such companies. It is both the right and responsibility of students to take a stand when universities pursue courses of action we find morally unacceptable.
Aim & Objectives
This campaign enables students to participate and affect their own place of study, directly oppose, discredit and ultimately create divestment from corporations that are driven by profit - not social needs or environmental sustainability. It also draws on the creative campaigning strengths and skills of the network also forming close bonds with other student and non-student groups (such as Amnesty International and CAAT).
Transparency on investments and research funding.
University engagement with staff and students on investment decisions.
The adoption of a clearly defined ethical investment policy by the university.
Disinvestment from any company engaged in human rights abuses, environmental degradation and the sale and manufacture of arms.
Targets & Strategies
As a student network People and Planet is ideally placed to launch and support a potentially hugely effective national campaign on these two principal areas:
- University Investments
- University Research Alliances
An Ethical Investment League that compares University performances would build on the highly successful model of the Go Green campaign. It would provide an invaluable resource and create a national standard for analysing and rating the ethical nature of investments and research collaborations. If published annually in a national newspaper, naming and shaming would exert extra pressure on universities to clean up their acts.
How could P&P achieve this change?
By providing a platform for national involvement, awareness raising and publicity and compiling an Ethical League Table-annually highlighting corporate crimes and ubiquity in all aspects of our society and effecting institution/consumer choice/responsibility (as outlined above). Through campaign guides, strategy, research tools, including Frequently Asked Questions, campaign case studies and a central resource pool/wiki and facilitating CAAT (and other external) involvement.
Many of these resources already exist and it would be the task of the People and Planet network to coordinate and point groups in the right direction for these resources, providing a space for the pooling and sharing of experiences, resources, strategies and effective campaigning tactics.
What actions could groups take?
This campaign has huge scope for all aspect of creative campaigning from stunts and actions to research and consultation. This could included any of the following and more:
- forming a campaign sub group for university consultation and research (e.g. previous campaigns/current university investments),
- stunts and actions (i.e. street theatre mock trials/marriages etc),
- awareness raising and exerting pressure through a strong and integrated media campaign and the petitioning of staff and students.
- Meetings with fund managers/vice chancellor/ student representatives,
- talking to Sabbatical officers (making the issue crucial in elections),
- building a strong student-staff coalition (possible Union motions), working with bodies such as the Ethical Investment co-operative to help create a financial review/portfolio and involvement from local groups (including the council and MPs).
Pros and Cons of the campaign
Cons:
- This campaign is not targeted at schools, colleges but is University orientated and eventually depends on University co-operation in achieving the campaigns aims.
- The entrenched corporatisation and militarisation of higher education and the vested interests of investment practice is a very hard nut to crack but well worth cracking!!
Pros:
- Ethical Investment tackles a root cause of human rights abuses, poverty, environmental degradation and corporate irresponsibility.
- It is in solidarity with groups who face the threat of reckless application and excesses of corporate power, including those in the global south.
- The campaign has achievable (and in some cases achieved) goals as it seek to fundamentally address and change the relationship between higher education and corporate practices.
- This campaign requires a range of actions and strategies, from direct action and awareness raising, to research and consultation with the university and thus can include all levels of skill and preference.
- This campaign reaches out to a broad range of people and groups including those with an interest in: university politics, issues of human rights, the environment and poverty and also those with an interest in investment, business and socially responsible economic and corporate practices.
- People and Planet groups will need to work autonomously as each universities aims, needs and campaigns are going to be different as are their eventual out comes and EI policies but this campaigning will benefit immeasurably from the networks support and resources.
- This campaign elucidates a fundamental aspect of contemporary global citizenship.
And as such EI can work in conjunction with other university campaigning groups with similar aspirations and concerns, Amnesty, Oxfam etc, and also with national campaigns and NGOs, specifically CAAT and Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth etc. and groups both within the UK and in the global south opposing injustices perpetrated by corporate irresponsibility. - Several already successful university campaigns have amassed a vast body of resources and research, including: campaign strategies, policy work, academic research, corporate sector involvement (e.g. Coop bank, Ethical Investment Co-operative) and creative and inclusive actions which reduces the pressure on the central office.
- This campaign has the potential for significant impact on companies if national momentum is continued and is an accessible way of exposing and addressing corporate irresponsibility and malpractice on a national scale and potentially in the national media (with green league).
- This campaign creates a precedent for addressing the commercialisation of universities and their research and could help with the de-militrisation of Universities and would be a useful step in campaigning to see and end to research funding for arms, as well as other negative socio-environmental impacts.
- Ethical Investment creates a lasting legacy which will be entrenched in Universities policies and practice even if people and planet groups disband.
Useful websites and resources
Ethical Investment Wiki this site will tell visitors all they need to know about EI and the EI wiki and includes: a resource pool, campaign case studies, FAQs and Useful Links.
FTSE for Good The FTSE4Good Index Series has been designed to measure the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards, and to facilitate investment in those companies.
EIRIS is the leading global provider of independent research into the social, environmental and ethical performance of companies.
The College Sustainability Report Card is similar to the Green League but is in America. Luckily it ranks unis on three very relevant areas:
