IN NOVEMBER, The Cheese Grater looked at how ex-Media and Communications Officer, Nick Barnard, had colluded with the Provost to keep UCL’s dirty arms secret hidden from the eyes of the student population. Little surprise then that College lied to the BBC on the eve of a nationwide protest against university arms investment last month.
The campaign against UCL's shares in military equipment and service provider Cobham Plc has proved to be a protracted battle. An investigation into ethical investment was promised by UCL Council back in June 2007, and yet it was only at the most recent meeting in December that the suggestion of an “ethical investments advisory group” was made.
At the same time, Council members agreed that it would be rash of them to make a decision on the Cobham shares there and then. The investigation would continue, and they would wait patiently for the result.
Until 26 February, that is. Threatened with a protest the following day and an enquiry by the BBC, College rushed out a press release in an attempt to make everything ‘OK. “UCL Council has agreed after extensive debate that the investment policy should not restrict investment in the defence industry” it claimed... wrongly. Was this simply a mix-up, or were College actually hoping that a little bullshit was enough to keep the Beeb at bay and convince all the campaigners to give up and go home?
Given Provost Malcolm Grant’s history, it would seem a little generous to give him the benefit of the doubt. Either way a quick enquiry from a certait rag means that UCL Media Officer Dominique Fourniol has since informed the BBC that the statement “does not fully reflect UCL’s current position”.