Ethical Funding Policy for Loughborough University

To:  Vice-Chancellor Shirley Pearce

We, the undersigned, have concerns regarding Loughborough University's connections to the global arms trade via the funding it receives from military and military-industrial sources. We believe that in its current state the global arms trade is incompatible with a more peaceful and world and that it is contributing to many problems including the escalation and prolongation of armed conflicts, the perpetration of human rights abuses and the hindering of development.

A healthy university should lead the way in developing innovative and intelligent responses to global challenges. We are therefore calling on Loughborough University to take the following steps:

1) Create a central register of all university ties with military and/or industrial funders to include funding sources and another industrial connections. This should include which departments have accepted funding from military sources and what the funding is for.

2) Establish an ethics committee whose purpose will be to consult on and create an ethical policy on where the university will and will not accept funding from.

3) Establish a committee which review all offers of/applications for funding against this ethical policy before funding is accepted. This committee should also review all existing funding for research with military applications and, where possible, terminate contracts which don’t meet the standards of the ethical policy.

4) Create and provide structures of support for academics and departments affected by the rejection of funding according to the ethical policy to find funding from alternative sources for work which provides civil benefits to society, for example by helping to address social or environmental problems.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Ethical Funding Policy for Loughborough University Petition to Vice-Chancellor Shirley Pearce was created by and written by Stuart Jesson (stujesson@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.