An Austrian enterprise college based by billionaire Ronald Lauder has severed its partnership with Harvard University, the newest blow to the school’s status amid rising campus antisemitism within the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israeli civilians.
The Lauder Business School stated it was affiliated since 2014 with the Microeconomics of Competitiveness Affiliate Network developed by Harvard professor Michael Porter on the college’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.
“Lauder Business School has withdrawn from this network and expresses solidarity with the Jewish student community at Harvard University in light of recent events,” stated the varsity in a Dec. 14 submit on Facebook. “Our institution is forming new partnerships that are more closely aligned with our core values and standards.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center praised the Vienna-based college’s resolution, calling it a “powerful, ethical move,” whereas world-renowned Rabbi Shmuley Boteach pointed to the irony of an establishment in Austria, an anti-Jewish hub through the Holocaust, education an American icon.
“You know American universities are screwed when it’s the Austrians who have to sever ties with Harvard because of American academic antisemitism,” the rabbi wrote on X.
The college’s assertion, which was flagged Tuesday by The Jerusalem Post, comes as the newest hit to the Harvard model amid allegations of anti-Israel protests on campus seen as crossing the road into antisemitism, in addition to a full-blown plagiarism scandal over the work of President Claudine Gay.
You know American universities are screwed when it’s the Austrians who should sever ties with Harvard due to American educational antisemitism. This is among the most astonishing headlines I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/ixBgc08501
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) December 27, 2023
The transfer additionally illustrates the pivotal function of Mr. Lauder, an inheritor to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, and different prime donors within the battle towards campus antisemitism roiling the Ivy League.
Mr. Lauder, who serves as president of the English-language enterprise college based in 2003, suspended donations in October to the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, over what he described as its insufficient response to campus antisemitism.
“You are forcing me to reexamine my financial support absent satisfactory measures to address antisemitism at the university,” Mr. Lauder stated in an Oct. 16 letter to the college.
Penn President Liz Magill and board Chairman Scott Bok resigned this month following her testimony at a House committee listening to.
Calls for Ms. Gay to resign are escalating, however Harvard Corp. threw its help behind her in a Dec. 12 assertion.
Billionaire Bill Ackman, a Harvard grad, stated he was advised by a “reliable” supply that the college has requested Ms. Gay to resign however that “she has refused.”
“Gay has apparently said that if she is fired, she will sue. Gay has retained her own counsel,” stated Mr. Ackman in a Sunday submit on X. “I can’t 100% confirm the above is true, but if it is, I am sure the board is concerned about what may emerge in legal discovery in the event of litigation.”
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com