Oxford University cuts ties with Sackler family over links with opioids

Oxford’s vice-chancellor, Prof Irene Tracey, launched a review earlier this year into its relationship with the Sackler family. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

The University of Oxford will cut its ties with the Sackler family, whose wealth came from addictive opioid drugs, removing the family’s name from buildings, galleries and positions funded through their donations.

The university’s governing council approved the measure to strip the Sackler name from two galleries in the Ashmolean Museum and a university library as well as several staff positions, following an investigation earlier this year by Oxford’s new vice-chancellor, Prof Irene Tracey.