After an excellent campaign by Leeds University student group Let’s Disarm Leeds, students voted Yes in a referendum on whether they wanted to end their university’s links with BAE Systems, the world’s third biggest arms manufacturer. This victory mandates the Students’ Union to lobby the University to do three things in particular: to stop inviting BAE to careers fairs and recruitment talks; to sell any shares they might have in BAE and to reject any future research money from the company. As part of the campaign, Let’s Disarm Leeds got students to write why they wanted BAE off campus and took photographs which you can see here . They also received statements of support from university societies, both at Leeds and other universities and even from former South African MP Andrew Feinstein. This vote follows on from one earlier in the year, when students in Sheffield overwhelmingly voted against the arms trade, showing yet again that students nationwide don’t want arms dealers on campus. Both groups of students are now beginning the difficult task of negotiating with University management.
