On Wednesday 18 February, LSE held its first Endowment AGM. LSE Council committed to holding these meetings as result of the recommendations from the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Review in 2024, which emerged after the LSE student encampment movement in 2023. During the AGM, key members of the LSE Investment Subcommittee sat on a panel to discuss their work and answer questions from the LSE community including staff and students.
We were encouraged by the strong student turnout and we recognise the walkout protest as a powerful and legitimate expression of how strongly students feel that their voices are not yet being heard on this issue time and time again.
Key findings from the meeting
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A clear and important tension also emerged between what many students are calling for and the ethical investment strategy preferred by LSE Council and its newly appointed investment manager, JP Morgan. While students — backed by a second 83% referendum mandate — are calling for full divestment, both JP Morgan and Council have positioned shareholder engagement as the more effective tool for pressuring companies to stop contributing to climate change, war and genocide. This is a fundamentally different approach, and one that students made clear they do not find sufficient.
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Students also raised serious questions about JP Morgan itself. As simultaneously the world's largest financier of fossil fuels and a major investor in renewables, serious questions were raised about whether JP Morgan can, or should, guide LSE on ethical investment without first examining its own portfolio.
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One structural issue that cannot be overlooked is the composition of the Investment Subcommittee itself. There are currently more external members sitting on the board than there are students, and Tito, LSESU's General Secretary, is the only student representative on the Investments Subcommittee. The resounding message from attendees — both staff and students — was that this must change. Many urged for more opportunities for direct student engagement on the School's endowment policy, with students making clear that LSE should secure meaningful student involvement at the decision-making table, not as an afterthought, but as active participants in shaping the endowment's direction. For a committee making decisions about an endowment held in LSE's name — and directly affecting the communities LSE serves — this imbalance is simply not good enough.
What we're doing next
The 83% referendum result is clear and we have a duty to keep progressing this work. Based on what students told us at the meeting, we will be continuing to lobby LSE for greater student representation on the Investment Subcommittee.
LSESU has two active divestment working groups: one within the Russell Group Sabbatical Officer network, and one with student leaders and part time officers. We are also working directly with universities that have already achieved full divestment, learning from what has worked elsewhere. If you would like to attend the LSESU Divestment Working Group meetings, please get in touch with us at su.info@lse.ac.uk.
It is clear from Wednesday's meeting that more can and must be done. We will not stop until students' voices are genuinely reflected in how LSE manages its investments.