Open letter to Vice Chancellor

Open letter to Dr. Malcolm McVicar, Vice Chancellor of UCLan, from ‘Disobey’

27/02/09

Dear Dr. McVicar,

Our investigations into UCLan’s dealings with BAE Systems lead us to a most startling discovery: UCLan has no Ethical Policy (!) Given that the University does actually run courses encouraging ‘corporate social responsibility’, we believe UCLan should practice what it preaches and formulate and put into practice a good and principled Ethical Policy.

It appears that UCLan has only a Sustainable Development Procurement Policy. Explicit guidance regarding investments is absent, meaning that, for instance, whilst purchase of ‘illegally’-cut timber is forbidden, investing in a company involved in such operations is not. Further, no procedures are in place to prevent such a company funding research projects at our University.

We seek, via this letter, to urge your fine self and all concerned students and other workers at UCLan to seek to put in place an Ethical Policy which covers not only environmental matters, but also concerns regarding genetic modification, animal welfare and testing on animals, human rights, and dealings with the arms trade. Many of the best /most progressive Universities around the world now have such a wide-ranging Ethical Policy – UCLan should be with them. Adoption of such a Policy would be one more step towards a decent and sustainable future.

This letter arrives as a consequence of our journey from Israeli State Terrorism via BAE to our demonstration on the UCLan rooftop on CAAT’s Day of Action. We would see a principled UCLan Ethical Policy as a memorial to the four hundred (++) children murdered in January this year by the Israeli State in Gaza.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Kropotkin

PeterK@greenanarchist.co.uk

on behalf of
Disobey Anarchist Collective
http://disobey-afp.blogspot.com/