Home Since September 2005 NSPM has been making steps towards a campaign for ethical investment at the university, concentrating on investment in the arms exporting companies singled-out by Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT). These companies make a profit through the sale of equipment and components used to kill, intimidate, destroy and torture. These profit then profit the companies' shareholders, essentially allowing them to make money out of war. We feel very strongly that the institution's (and, indirectly, its students') money should not be invested in such activities. The university had not previously responded to CAAT's requests for emails regarding its investments, so a student member of NSPM contacted Director of Finance Martin Wynne-Jones, to ask for the information. Even when the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was mentioned in the request, no reply came. We decided to widen the issue and involved members of the Student Environmental & Ethics Network (SEEN), resulting in a large number of emails and letters being sent to Mr Wynne-Jones. This had the desired effect of persuading him to release the information. You can see the email that he sent in reply here. It appears from the email that the university has passively managed accounts with Barclays Global Investors, which according to CAAT means that there is likely to be no control over which companies are invested in. This could mean that the university is indirectly investing in any number of international arms companies. CAAT's very useful email can be read here. We are campaigning for an ethical investment policy to be adopted by the university, to reflect the concerns of students. We are also attempting to use the information that we have and use it to raise the awareness of students about our university's investments and the need for positive change. We have started a "speech bubble" campaign (see photos here, and here), and held a "die-in" in protest at the University's actions. We also intend to collaborate with other societies campaigning for different aspects of ethical investment (e.g. environmental, human rights). To sign the petition asking for ethical investment go here. If you would like to contact Mr Wynne-Jones regarding the university's investments you can email him at Martin.Wynne-jones@nottingham.ac.uk. Also, have a look at the Environment & Social Justice site to find out more about ethical investment at the university in general. For an excellent site on a similar campaign, see St. Andrews' Ethical Investment Campaign. For an example of a draft motion on ethical investment, see York People & Planet's.