Ethics and partnerships, where is the OU ethical policy?

From Society Matters
Ethics and partnerships: the OU and the St Athan Military Academy
The Open University now boasts a Centre for Ethics and includes ethical teaching in its curriculum, but it does not yet have an ethical policy guiding its corporate partnerships. The recent link between the OU and the Metrix
consortium has led to protests in Wales and may result in far wider ramifications for the institution
I too believe that universities and their staff should aim to encourage students to ‘think ethically’ and equip them to
confront the great dilemmas and paradoxes of our time. Vice Chancellor Brenda Gourley Independent Open Eye, 1 July 2008

Life at the OU in Wales took a new turn recently, with demonstrations against the University’s involvement in a military training consortium taking place outside our building. Over the past year, the ‘Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign’ has been publicizing and attacking the OU’s involvement in the Metrix consortium, which followed its success in being awarded a government contract to run a training agency for all of the British armed forces at St Athan in South Glamorgan.
The OU is a member of the consortium, along with some major arms manufacturers, including QinetiQ and Raytheon. Raytheon
manufactures Tomohawk and Patriot missiles, and missiles capable of carrying cluster bombs; QinetiQ hit the headlines with
criticisms by the National Audit Office of the process whereby, in the privatization of DERA, the responsible civil servants became
multi-millionaires overnight.
Thousands of training jobs from around the UK will be moved to St Athan, just outside Cardiff, where up to 5,500 jobs will be
created. This figure is one that fluctuates and is contested, but it is claimed that the St Athan Military Academy, costing £15 billion,
will be the largest ever public-sector project in Wales. The project is welcomed by local MPs and Welsh Assembly
Members, by the Welsh Assembly Government and by all of the major political parties in Wales. Nonetheless, several Plaid Cymru
members of the National Assembly for Wales have spoken against it, and there are a small but vociferous number of people in Wales opposed to the militarization of the economy. Anti-militarism has been a core element of the nationalist struggle since its inception, and is a perspective shared by many key figures in public life.
Does this new partnership fit with the mission of the OU – to create and enhance life opportunities? There are concerns about any
institution’s associations with the arms trade. Jennie Lee, one of the main founders of the OU, was firm in her stand against arms, in that she was against the UK acquiring a nuclear deterrent.
Various UK universities (including St Andrews and several Cambridge colleges) have adopted ethical investment policies.
University College London, under pressure from students and alumni, is among those that are considering doing so. The School of
Oriental and African Studies and Goldsmiths, University of London and Bangor University have withdrawn investment from arms
companies. The OU has still to decide on whether it needs to devise clear and fully transparent ethical guidelines to steer its business partnerships.
Other institutions have been more forthright. The Norwegian state pension fund, which includes its petroleum fund, and Liverpool City Council are among the bodies that have disinvested from Raytheon, on the basis of its implication in war crimes and killing civilians in Iraq and Lebanon.
Of course, military technology and the armed forces are involved in defence as well as attack, and there are plenty of us who subscribe to notions of ‘just wars’. But the plan is to train not just British troops, but armed forces from around the world. The idea of training troops for the Burmese government is more controversial than training British troops.
Others do not share this political or moral concern, but object on pragmatic grounds: that the OU risks tainting its brand. In a sense,
the greatest asset of the OU is its brand. The brand isn’t just a logo but is a reputation, and the reputations of organizations increasingly are linked to their ethical and environmental policies and practices.
We only have to look to Nike, McDonald’s, Tesco, the Body Shop and the Co-operative Bank to see the centrality of ‘the brand’ to
business performance. Across the economy and around the world there is a huge growth in the ‘corporate social responsibility’ agenda. In one sense, this is recognized by the OU, which recently launched a Level 1 course on Ethics in Real Life and takes very seriously its commitment to development in Africa. At the same time, it is in partnership with the World Bank to develop a private university in Pakistan, in collaboration with Tesco regarding using clubcard points to pay course fees (see Society Matters No.10), and is now linked with the Metrix consortium.

This suggests the need for an ethical, environmental and corporate esponsibility framework for the OU’s relationships with other
organizations. With its deservedly high standing, the OU brand is of enormous benefit to us all. The good reputation of the OU is an asset and needs to be defended actively.
In response to the University’s involvement in the Metrix consortium, the Open University Branch of the University and
College Union (OUBUCU) has formulated a set of ethical guidelines to be applied to the future selection of its strategic partnerships with external organizations. The guidelines set out criteria regarding the arms trade, ecological sustainability, animal welfare and corporate responsibility to ‘filter’ out partnerships which may commercially damage the University’s brand. At the time of going to press, a paper setting out the arguments for their implementation has been presented to the Vice-Chancellor and the Branch awaits a response to its suggestion that a forum be established between union and management to discuss the guidelines. The union believes the University cannot be financially successful in the future unless it is committed to an ethical approach to partnerships.

http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/about-the-faculty/society-matters/society-matters.php

Protest demo at Open University Cardiff Office

Big brother hassles Anti-metrix - St Athan protesters
http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/ Anti-Metrix protest march to demonstrate opposition against the St Athan privatised military academy. PCS where there to support the staff whose jobs are threatened and show opposition to the protest - Cynefin y Werin members - CND Cymru and CAAT supporters, Cymdeithas y Cymod and Church, Chapel and other faith representatives. Along with Green Party protestors and speakers Jill Evans Plaid MEP, Davy McAuley of the Raytheon 9 and stop the war.

In an attempt to silence the protesters they were banned from marching through Cardiff city centre as police used the the public order act to suppress opposition and the human right to protest in public. The MOD spend huge sums of money on propaganda and publications especially in the vale of glamorgan and John smith has thousands of pounds to promote the academy and even go in to schools with unbalanced material in favour of the academy. Recently we saw the NUT protest at the MOD & government lies to school children regarding Iraq.Yesterday - the huge police presence was totally disproportionate and a waste of tax payers money. Police photographers where busy taking pictures and videos - to what purpose - the real criminals and evan murders are the arms dealers Ratheon and serco and the new labour politcans like John smith & rhodri morgan who supported or voted a policy of going to war and this academy to train people to kill.Yet they want to stop http://www.cynefinywerin.org.uk/ and its suscribing member organisations and supporters like PCS - there defending its members jobs and the public protesting at their expensive failed PFI policy being applied to MILITARY TRAINING.We don't want a school for mercenaries in Cardiff - we don't need it - we want sustainable jobs to benefit the community not mercenary soldiers to terrorise them and put our young people at risk of rape and worse.Note this story today Police in court over pictures at arms protest Politics The ...This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday April 27 2008 on p6 of the ... Arms campaigner Andrew Wood from Oxford claims that his human rights were ...The power of the police to mount surveillance operations at peaceful protests will be challenged in court this week. In a case seen as opposing Britain's move towards a Big Brother-style society, the High Court will determine if police are legally entitled to take photographs and compile information on protesters even if they do not break the law www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/27/police.humanrights

Demonstration Against the St Athan Military Academy By Cheryl The demonstration was against the proposed St Athan Military Academy, which would mean enforced relocation or loss of jobs for many PCS members. From the PCS point of view there are several issues; risk to the front line, loss of skills ...

PCS Shropshire Area - http://www.pcsshropshire.selfip.org/newspage

Questions at university over military academy By Greg Lewis(Greg Lewis) Protesters say they’ve found the first chinks in the armour of the arms and defence consortium behind the new St Athan training academy. Much is being made about the educational courses which will be on offer at the massive base – and ...What Is Wales And What Is It For? - http://whatiswales.blogspot.com/

Protests against military academyBBC News - Building on the centre at St Athan is due to get under way in 2009, under a public-private finance deal. The academy will provide a central training base ...

Call for OU to quit St Athan consortium

Call for OU to quit St Athan consortium
ic Wales, United Kingdom - 3 Mar 2008 Peter Collins South Wales Echo
Members of the “No to the Military Academy” campaign have staged a demonstration outside the Cardiff offices of the OU as part of the National Day of Action ...

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/cardiff-news/vale-glamorgan-news/2008/03/03/call-for-ou-to-quit-st-athan-consortium-91466-20545572/

OPPONENTS of St Athan’s defence training academy have called on the Open University in Wales to withdraw from the consortium behind the project.

The OU is a member of the Metrix consortium, which also includes multi-national training and research companies like Raytheon and Qinetiq, which made the successful bid for the multi-billion-pound academy to be built at RAF St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Members of the “No to the Military Academy” campaign have staged a demonstration outside the Cardiff offices of the OU as part of the National Day of Action for University Ethical Investment.

Anne Greagsby, spokeswoman for the campaign, said: “The proposed military training academy at St Athan will be built and run by a consortium which includes multinational arms companies. It will train not only British service personnel, but those from any regime or private military company willing to pay. We call on them the OU to withdraw.”

Rob Humphreys, director of the OU in Wales, met the campaigners outside his offices for a “useful and amicable discussion”.

He added: “As a partner in the consortium, the Open University is committed to delivering the highest quality support to this endeavour.

“The university has helped more than 100,000 services personnel and their families fulfil their potential through education. Participation in the St Athan project will help us to continue that work.”