Oxford refuses to end £10 million legacy with Sackler family

Oxford continues to maintain relations with the Sackler family, of American opioid crisis notoriety, despite student outcry and ostracisation at dozens of other institutions around the world. According to the Financial Times, Oxford invited members of the Sackler family to exclusive university events, accepted funds from charities related to the family, and retained Sackler naming rights on university buildings and academic positions.

These events all happened during or after the Sackler family’s negotiation of a multibillion-dollar bankruptcy settlement concerning their role in the US opioid epidemic, which is estimated to have claimed over half a million lives since 1999.

Purdue Pharma, run by the Sackler family, lobbied heavily for their opioid painkiller Oxycontin by misleading doctors and authorities. The massively over-prescribed drug has been labelled by the Drugs Enforcement Agency as “heroin in a pill.”

Oxford has received more than £10 million worth of donations from the Sacklers’ two UK-based charities since 1991. Most notably, the family funded the building of the Sackler Library, which focuses on the study of archaeology and the ancient world.

Whilst the university has not applied for any new donations since 2019, the Oxford Development Trust received £50,332 from the Sackler Trust in 2021. This money was previously pledged to fund research positions at Worcester College and the Ashmolean.

Worcester College told Cherwell that it has since cut ties with the Sackler family: “Worcester College’s Governing Body made the decision to terminate the Sackler Research Fellowship and decline further funding in 2021. The College has not received any further donations from the Sackler family or its charitable foundations since this decision was taken.”

However, only a few months after Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy, the Ashmolean chair of the board of visitors, Lord James Lupton, wrote to Dame Theresa Sackler: “As the new face on the board, I am ‘all ears’ to the views of our most important patrons and supporters, and I very much hope that you will contribute your ideas over the next few weeks.”

Last year, former Purdue chief executive Dame Sackler was invited to the annual Ashmolean Gala Dinner in September and to the Oxford and Cambridge boat race in April as a member of the prestigious “Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors.”

Other institutions have cut ties with the Sacklers in light of the public outcry over their role in the opioid epidemic. The University of Cambridge has recently joined the University of Edinburgh, the University of Glasgow, and Imperial College London in renouncing its associations with the family. A Cambridge spokesperson said that they intended to “remove the Sackler name from any relevant funds that still exist, as well as from university spaces.”

Oxford’s comparative inaction has caused indignation among staff and students, and the student union has said it will continue raising concerns with the university.

Phillip Pyle from the campaign group Shame on Sackler Oxford told Cherwell: “Oxford is not only contributing to the marginalisation of Americans and people everywhere facing addiction through their lack of action. The university is also destabilising its relationship with students, staff, faculty, and the wider city community through failing to act in line with their stated core values.”

Citing the university’s response to the student union motion in 2021 to change the name of the Sackler Library, Pyle said:

“I also know that when ex-Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson was asked by the FT about the reasons for not renaming the library, she said that she didn’t know because the University hadn’t looked into it. This comment came after the SU motion passed, meaning that Oxford not only didn’t take up the motion but that they didn’t even consider the matter.

“I do have hope, though, especially knowing that a large portion of the University seems to be in agreement on the issue. I’m also hoping that the new Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey will be more receptive to student opinion on the issue.”