LONDON — The University of Nottingham is building Britain's first International Center for Corporate Social Responsibility — and British American Tobacco is paying the bill.
Anti-tobacco campaigners blasted the university's announcement Monday that it will accept $5.7 million from British American Tobacco to fund the new wing of its business school.
BAT said the donation demonstrated that it was "very serious about demonstrating responsible behavior in an industry seen as controversial."
Britain's largest cancer charity, the Cancer Research Campaign, called the deal "another example of the tobacco companies' attempts to buy respectability."
"We understand universities are short of money, but accepting tainted tobacco cash is a step too far," said Gordon McVie, director general of the Cancer Research Campaign.
Action on Smoking and Health, termed it "cash for ethics." Dr. John Toy, medical director at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, called it "just extraordinary."
BAT, the world's second-largest publicly traded tobacco company, is currently under investigation by the British government over allegations that it orchestrated the smuggling of cigarettes.
BAT is the parent company of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., the American firm featured in the film "The Insider" — Hollywood's retelling of how whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, a former B&W executive, helped start a landslide of lawsuits against major tobacco companies that led to a $206 billion settlement with 46 states in 1998.
BAT brushed off the latest criticism, calling the university donation a step in a learning process for the entire business world.
"We are delighted to be able to support a project that will develop understanding of what corporate social responsibility means today," said BAT spokesman Michael Prideaux.
"We are very serious about demonstrating responsible behavior in an industry seen as controversial."