Top London uni loses £22k sports funding over homophobic leaflets
A leading accountancy company has cancelled £22,000 of funding to the London School of Economics (LSE) after its now disbanded rugby team handed out leaflets accused of being homophobic.
The leaflets were given out by the LSE men’s rugby team earlier this month at a freshers fair, but caused a storm of controversy on social media, with many accusing the rugby team of being sexist and homophobic. Since, it was announced that the rugby club had been disbanded.
The athletics union at LSE will no longer receive funding from KPMG, the firm announced today.
In a statement given to the Evening Standard, KPMG said: “Diversity and inclusion is an issue which KPMG treats with paramount importance.”
As well as the monetary loss, LSE sports teams will no longer be able to use the KPMG logos on their kits. The athletics union has questioned how they would be able to cover up the logos, saying it would cost thousands of pounds to replace all the kits.
According to the university’s student paper the Beaver, the athletics union will now be left with a £7,000 deficit.
General secretary of the LSE students’ union Nona Buckley-Irvine, said: “It is disappointing to see that the actions of one club have cost the rest of our sports teams the funding that they need and deserve.”
A spokesman from KPMG said: “KPMG sponsors a number of university sports team as part of its support of university-level sport in the UK. KPMG in no way supports derogatory comments made towards any individual or group and after speaking to the club to raise our concerns over recent issues we agreed to end the current arrangement.”
