Students at Christ’s have voted in support of a motion calling on the College to “rapidly divest” from arms companies, after a petition campaign from students.

The motion was passed in a referendum open to all college undergraduates, with 83 votes in favour and only 13 votes against the proposals.

The petition was launched after it was revealed that Christ’s College held indirect investments of £270,000 in companies involved in arms manufacturing. Among these companies was Boeing, who have been criticised for supplying Israeli forces with weapons used in deadly airstrikes in Rafah.

The original Freedom of Information request that revealed these investments came from a University-wide campaign called Pressure Point Cambridge, Varsity understands.

This comes after King’s College agreed to review its investment policy after weeks of pressure over holdings in arms companies with ties to Israel.

Prior to the vote, an open meeting was held to discuss the revelations over Christ’s College’s investments. During this meeting, one of the proposers of the motion claimed that, in University wide-negotiations, Cambridge had stated that divestment is impossible if not implemented by the government.

One speaker who had been present in negotiations claimed that the University had only been able to divest from Russian companies with the “legislative crutch” sanctions after their invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

This comes as Cambridge for Palestine (C4P), who set up encampments outside King’s Parade in May calling on the University to divest from Israel, enter their fifth week of negotiations with the University.

There has currently been no progress on C4P’s demands for divestment, but the University has agreed to provide scholarships for two Palestinian students in the next academic year.

The campaign for divestment had also been supported by fellows within Christ’s, with one campaigner stating that “two fellows in particular” had been actively involved.

However, the students behind the campaign believe that the majority of fellows opposed divestment, with one saying “we’ve got a lot of fellows that are pro genocide” and urging students not to mention Israel in the motion for fear of backlash.

A spokesperson for the University of Cambridge told Varsity: “The University is in constructive dialogue with the students from the encampment on King’s Parade. We aren’t commenting on ongoing discussions, which remain positive.”