open letter against collaboration with DCSU
Open Letter against academic collaboration with the Defence Cultural Specialist Unit We, the undersigned, note with grave concern that members of faculties at major British universities (including Cambridge, De Montfort, King's College London, Lancaster, the London School of Economies, and UCL) have been providing academic expertise to the Ministry of Defence's Defence Cultural Specialist Unit (DCSU). As revealed by recent student-led investigations, we note that the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) plays a specific role in designing and delivering these 'cultural specialist' trainings on behalf of the MoD, and has received at least £400,000 since 2016 to do so. We believe this cooperation goes against the ethical principles of our profession, as a continuation of the British university system's historic complicity with militarist and imperial endeavours. We urge institutions working with the DCSU to reconsider their involvement. The DCSU was for
