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Cherwell Independent since 1920
Friday 9 November 2018 | Vol.285 No.6 | 5th week
th @cherwell_online

Oxbridge’s
offshore secrets
• Hundreds of millions in
offshore funds a year after
Paradise Papers
• Oxford colleges to be hauled
in front of Parliament
Jack Hunter
Oxford and Cambridge colleges will
be hauled before Parliament, after
an investigation by this newspaper
revealed that many are funnelling
hundreds of millions of pounds into
secretive offshore funds.
Using Freedom of Information
requests, Cherwell and Varsity, the
Cambridge student newspaper,
obtained and analysed the full
tens of millions of pounds in fossil
fuel, arms, and tobacco companies,
despite growing pressure from stu-
dents and academics to divest their
endowments.
John Mann MP, Chair of the
House of Commons’ Treasury Sub- Ben Goldstein // CHERWELL
Committee, which is carrying out an
inquiry into tax avoidance and eva- Educate, agitate, organise! Wadham students staged a front quad
sion, claimed he would call Oxbridge
colleges to Parliament to address the demonstration against rent prices. See our full report on page five
findings.

Uni denies rejecting Stormzy scholarship

investment portfolios of over 40
Oxbridge colleges, providing an
unprecedented insight into how the
ancient institutions invest their
multi-billion pound assets.
The responses reveal that multiple
Oxford colleges invested almost
£150m in a network of funds regis-
tered in tax havens stretching from
Jersey to the Cayman Islands. These
include the same offshore funds
that provoked outcry last November
after being identified in the Paradise
Papers leaks.
One year on, St Catherine’s Col-
lege Oxford still holds investments
in two funds managed by Coller In-
ternational, the private equity firm
in the offshore financial centre of
Guernsey, that were revealed by The
Guardian last year to have past links
to offshore oil and gas exploration.
The disclosures also reveal how
Oxbridge colleges directly invest
“Oxford and Cambridge colleges
have attempted to draw a veil of se-
crecy over their funds,” Mann said.
“They will be called to Parliament to
account for this behaviour and how
they intend to remedy it. Oxbridge
colleges were already on our radar,
and this exposure greatly assists in
moving them into our agenda.”
Other Oxford colleges investing
a combined £144.9m in offshore
funds domiciled in tax havens
including Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman
and Bermuda include Exeter, Hert-
ford, Keble, Merton, New College,
Pembroke, Queen’s, Somerville, St
Peter’s, Trinity, and University.
New College is Oxford’s biggest
offshore investor, with a combined
£118.611m invested in three offshore
funds based in Cayman, Guernsey,
and Jersey.
Continued on page three
Greg Ritchie
The scholarship launched by Stormzy
to help black British students at
Cambridge was originally proposed
for Oxford University – only for the
University to reject it, according to the
award-winning grime artist.
The musician – who was declared
Person of the Year by the Oxford
African and Caribbean society in
2017 – was speaking at the launch of
his new publishing imprint, Merky
Books, alongside fellow rapper Akala,
poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and writer
Malorie Blackman.
However, Oxford University denied
that they had received any “offer or
proposal” and noted that they had to-
day contacted Stormzy’s representa-
tives to “welcome the opportunity to
work together” on a possible scheme.
The Stormzy Scholarship will com-
pletely fund two students’ tuition fees
and maintenance grants for up to four
years of an undergraduate course. It
will run this year and in 2019, funding
four students overall.
Stormzy himself will fund one
scholarship, with the second being
funded by Youtube Music.
Stormzy announced the launch of
the scholarship on A-Levels results
today at his old school, where he said:
“We’re a minority, the playing ground
isn’t level for us, and it’s vital that all
potential students are given the same
opportunity.”
Earlier this year, Cherwell revealed
that Oxford admitted more pupils
from the private Westminster School
than black, British students in the
space of a single year.
A spokesperson for the Univer-
sity of Oxford told Cherwell: “Oxford
University is committed to widen-
ing access and participation for all
students from under-represented
backgrounds. We admire Stormzy’s
commitment to inspire and support
black students to succeed in higher
education. We have not received or
turned down any offer or proposal to
fund undergraduate scholarships at
Oxford.
“We have contacted to Stormzy’s
representatives today to clarify we
would welcome the opportunity to
work together on inspiring students
from African-Caribbean heritage to
study at Oxford.”

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