An Austrian enterprise college based by billionaire Ronald Lauder has severed its partnership with Harvard College, 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 Enterprise Faculty mentioned it was affiliated since 2014 with the Microeconomics of Competitiveness Affiliate Community developed by Harvard professor Michael Porter on the college’s Institute for Technique and Competitiveness.
“Lauder Enterprise Faculty has withdrawn from this community and expresses solidarity with the Jewish pupil group at Harvard College in gentle of current occasions,” mentioned the college in a Dec. 14 submit on Fb. “Our establishment is forming new partnerships which are extra intently aligned with our core values and requirements.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Heart praised the Vienna-based college’s resolution, calling it a “highly effective, moral transfer,” 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 already know American universities are screwed when it’s the Austrians who should sever ties with Harvard due to American tutorial antisemitism,” the rabbi wrote on X.
The varsity’s assertion, which was flagged Tuesday by The Jerusalem Publish, 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 Homosexual.
You already know American universities are screwed when it’s the Austrians who should sever ties with Harvard due to American tutorial antisemitism. This is likely one of the most astonishing headlines I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/ixBgc08501
— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) December 27, 2023
The transfer additionally illustrates the pivotal position of Mr. Lauder, an inheritor to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, and different prime donors within the struggle in opposition to 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 College of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, over what he described as its insufficient response to campus antisemitism.
“You’re forcing me to reexamine my monetary help absent passable measures to deal with antisemitism on the college,” Mr. Lauder mentioned 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 Home committee listening to.
Requires Ms. Homosexual to resign are escalating, however Harvard Corp. threw its help behind her in a Dec. 12 assertion.
Billionaire Invoice Ackman, a Harvard grad, mentioned he was advised by a “dependable” supply that the college has requested Ms. Homosexual to resign however that “she has refused.”
“Homosexual has apparently mentioned that if she is fired, she’s going to sue. Homosexual has retained her personal counsel,” mentioned Mr. Ackman in a Sunday post on X. “I can’t 100% verify the above is true, however whether it is, I’m positive the board is worried about what might emerge in authorized discovery within the occasion of litigation.”
