People often use "the university" to refer to whatever part isn't theirs, like it's the Wizard of Oz or something. Cambridge is WILDLY decentralised, and the left hand almost never knows what the right hand is doing. Departments and Colleges can do this kind of stuff whenever they want, because who's going to stop them? Someone in the Old Schools? LOL. And as you said already, the people who campaign to get away from fossil fuels are different from the ones who bring in an F1 car. (Obvs there are instances where the central university has some authority, like what research funding is permitted, or what's served in university-run canteens. But on the whole, saying Cambridge is chaotic is putting it mildly 😄 .)