You said

Your Students’ Union has campaigned for divestment and demilitarisation at Warwick alongside student activists for decades. The University has previously held partnerships and research projects with organisations associated with the armament and defence-related industries, and students have been fighting for them to divest from these industries through the SU since 2009. More recently, during the SU’s ASV (All-Student Votes) in Spring 2023, the motions ‘Warwick Against the Arms Trade’ and ‘Motion to Take a Stance Against the Development of Autonomous Weapons’ both passed, followed by motions concerning Gaza in the Autumn 2023 ASV, ‘Warwick against genocide in Gaza’ and ‘Warwick SU to support Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students in face of Islamophobic and racist attacks’.

Considering the long-standing campaign legacy, motions, assemblies, petitions, and protests, we have taken action.

We did

From late 2023- early 2024, we published statements in solidarity with students who were impacted by the escalating tensions in Gaza and on campus, and regularly met with various affected student groups. We also lobbied the University in various committees to meet with the encampment and to divest. When the encampment started, we met with protestors and university colleagues to ensure student welfare was being prioritised, and to help facilitate meetings with university executives. We also consulted with motion proposers, student activists, Warwick Amnesty, Demilitarise Education UK and university colleagues to draft a paper to University Council (the highest governing body).

In May 2024, Anna (President, 2023-24), Sophie (VP Democracy and Development, 2023-24) and I, Enaya, (VP Welfare and Campaigns in 2023-24, now President) wrote and presented a paper entitled “Ethical Research and Investment relating to Armament and Defence” to University Council, asking for the University to:

• Review and edit their current investment, donation, and research policies through full arms exclusionary criteria,
• Create new ethics policies based on demilitarisation for academic partnerships and procurement,
• Edit the Socially Responsible Investment Policy and the Policy on Solicitation and the Acceptance of Grants and Gifts to explicitly state that they would not invest in or accept gifts from individuals or organisations that source the majority of their revenue from the manufacture or sales of arms, 
• Commit to the Demilitarise Education Treaty (long-term guidance on replacing unethical arms partnerships with peaceful and renewable industries, specifically for universities/ HE institutions) with a permanent Demilitarisation advisor on campus,
• Explicitly divest from existing arms and defence industry-related ties following a review of the policies outlined,
• Consult students and staff, bring updates to Council and publish results for transparency throughout the process, and more.

Council accepted most of the proposals put forward, commissioning an Ethical Assurance Framework Assessment to be led by the Audit and Risk subcommittee. They consulted us as SU representatives when editing policies and drafting the new ethical principles for investments. As SU President, I was also added to the Fundraising Ethics Committee’s terms of reference. 

Over the Summer of 2024, were able to facilitate the initial meeting(s) between the Warwick Stands With Palestine coalition’s representatives and members of the University Executive Board. This Autumn, the University set up pledge-specific meetings with the coalition and me as SU President (and a new member to Council) to discuss their demands, such as a meeting with Vice Chancellor Stuart Croft and another with PVC International, Michael Scott, to discuss current and future scholarships and help for Palestinian scholars and students. This dialogue is still ongoing. In committee spaces like Senate, Finance and General Purposes Committee and Fundraising Ethics Committee, Muneeba (VP Education) and I contributed to the ongoing work being done around the policy review, editing where possible. Some of our FTOs, Naomi (VP Welfare and Campaigns) and Sasha (VP Democracy and Development) went to the Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS) conference for Ethical Investment training. I joined the Russell Group Student Unions (RGSU) conference earlier this year and worked on building links with other SUs lobbying their universities to divest from arms companies.

At the October meeting, University Council received an update on the Ethical Assurance Framework for approval, detailing the exact changes and updated policies in line with our recommendations. We commented on areas we believe could go further and asked for the changes to be documented and published for all students and staff to access easily, whilst regular updates will go to Council.

The updated policies can now be found here. 

In summary, there are four policy areas being worked on at the moment: 

1. Research funding: The University’s Executive Board created a document outlining the Ethical Principles for Research Funding and Partnerships, explicitly stating that “The University will not conduct any research project or activity which directly manufactures, assembles or supplies components for offensive weapons which could potentially be used in conflicts… will not engage in research projects with companies or organisations that are subject to UK sanctions imposed by the government or are themselves directly associated with human rights violations.”
2. Investments: The new Responsible Investment Policy will merge and replace the Investment and Socially Responsible Investment Policies. They state that the University will consider Environment, Social and Governance factors (ESG), including “companies involved in the production or sale of armaments”, when making future investments.
3. The Solicitation and Acceptance of Gifts Policy (by late 2024), and 
4. Education Partnerships (to be completed in early 2025).

Other policies related to ethical conduct can be viewed in the University’s Policy Zone. All policies are monitored through their Compliance and Assurance Framework, and Council receives regular updates on the ethical assurance framework.

Next Steps

This campaign is still ongoing thanks to you. The only reason we were able to initiate conversations in formal spaces with the University is because you made your voice heard. We will continue fighting for complete divestment and increased support for students affected by the devastating situation in Palestine. We are actively consulting student representatives from the coalition and university executives to further develop the work being done. 

Namely, we are looking at the following areas to focus on with the University:

• Continue the dialogue between the coalition, the SU and University Executives, 
• Divest from companies indirectly involved with the arms and defence industries,
• Refusing to host companies that are involved in the production or sale of armaments or associated with the violation of human rights on campus (such as careers fairs),
• Create a specific policy to assess the risks of dual-use research and technology (especially using AI and autonomous technology) within the ethical assurance framework, 
• Publicly declaring the support available for Palestinian students, and
• Consistently post updates from ongoing conversations and progress publicly, improving transparency on investments and procedures.

Thanks for reading this far. We will continue updating you with progress from our end. If you would like to get involved with the Demilitarisation campaign, please reach out to us and let us know what you would like to see from your Union. 

Your SU President,

Enaya Nihal