Students and academics at Oxford University are reportedly outraged that the institution has accepted a £3.25m donation from a foundation with links to Trafigura, an oil trading company which was this week found guilty in a European court of dumping toxic waste in West Africa.

Helsington Foundation made the donation to fund the University’s Sutton Trust summer school programme over the next five years, but the donation is being criticised because one of the Foundation’s three founders, Graham Sharp, is also a founder of Trafigura.

The Swiss-based oil trader which charters 75 vessels worldwide was fined the maximum amount of £1m by the Dutch court and found guity of dumping caustic soda and hydrogen sulfide in the Ivory Coast, killing 16 people and leaving 30,000 suffering illness.

In 2006 Trafigura’s ship Probo Koala originally tried to dispose of the waste in Amsterdam but refused to pay treatment costs and instead shipped the waste to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast where, according to Greenpeace, it was dumped in the streets. Greenpeace subsequently blocked the ship in an Estonian harbour demanding it be empounded. Trafigura has already paid $200m to the Ivory Coast for the resulting clean-up and $50m to the victims and their families.

Donation put under scrutiny and review

An Oxford University spokeswoman advised that they had not yet received a formal complaint about the donation and said: "At the time the benefaction was accepted, the University's process of scrutiny and review was carried out by the Donations Acceptance Review Committee, which reviewed all proposed donations of over £100,000."

She added that the terms of reference were to examine if there was credible evidence that the donation would:

• Impinge on academic freedom or limit freedom of enquiry;
• Require or promote activity that is illegal or unethical, or which has other serious adverse consequences;
• Do serious harm to the reputation of the collegiate University;
• Seriously harm the collegiate University’s relationship with other benefactors, partners, staff, students or other stakeholders.

But speaking with Civil Society David Barclay, president of Oxford University Student Union, said the union had been trying to get students involved in the donations decision process for a while:

"Oxford University Student Union has long called for student representation on the University's Donations Review Committee, following a unanimous decision taken by our Student Council.

"This incident provides a perfect example of the role that students can play in reviewing potential donations to the University.

"By highlighting donors and organisations who are likely to prove controversial within the student body, students could help the University ensure that the interests of all its members are represented throughout this process and minimise the likelihood of a student backlash."

A report by The Guardian advised that students and staff have urged the University to reconsider the donation. The newspaper quoted emeritus professor of economics at Christ Church Peter Oppenheimer as saying: "Oxford's central fundraising effort has long been an undirected mess – they will happily take money from anywhere."

Image courtesy of Greenpeace