Newnham College agrees to divest from occupation and genocide

Newnham College, Cambridge University, has agreed to divest from companies linked to occupation, genocide and fossil fuels, following months of sustained pressure from students, staff and alumni.

The decision marks a significant breakthrough for campaigners from Newnham for Palestine, who launched their divestment campaign in October 2025. Organisers say the College had indirectly invested at least £20 million in companies they identified as complicit in occupation, human rights abuses and environmental destruction.

According to campaign materials shared on social media, these included corporations providing computing, surveillance and AI services to the Israeli state and military, arms and military equipment manufacturers, firms aiding settlement expansion and occupation infrastructure, as well as fossil fuel companies implicated in ecological harm.

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In December 2025, Newnham’s College Council agreed to create an ad hoc working group to review the College’s passive investments and rewrite its statement of investment principles. The updated principles are expected to guide divestment away from companies linked to genocide, occupation, international law violations, human rights abuses and fossil fuel production.

The Council also agreed to advocate for greater transparency and divestment within the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF), whose investments are not currently public. Campaigners had further called on the College to join the Universities of Sanctuary network and to cut non-investment ties with companies deemed complicit, including service providers.

The campaign quickly gained momentum. Within one month, an open letter gathered nearly 450 signatories, including 15 organisations — among them the Newnham College JCR and MCR committees, Newnham Green and Social Justice Society and Newnham’s Feminist Society Committee — as well as 196 Newnham staff, students and alumni, alongside other members of the Cambridge community.

Campaigners said that since launching the campaign in October 2025, “hundreds of you stood with us to successfully demand an end to Newnham’s complicity.” However, they stressed that the campaign is ongoing, adding: “We still have a long way to go and must maintain pressure on Newnham College to follow through with its commitment.

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