Austrian Lauder Business School cuts ties with Harvard in solidarity with Jewish students

An Austrian business school founded by billionaire Ronald Lauder has severed its partnership with Harvard University, the latest blow to the college’s prestige amid rising campus antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.

The Lauder Business School said it was affiliated since 2014 with the Microeconomics of Competitiveness Affiliate Network developed by Harvard professor Michael Porter at the university’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“Lauder Business School has withdrawn from this network and expresses solidarity with the Jewish student community at Harvard University in light of recent events,” said the school in a Dec. 14 post 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 school’s decision, calling it a “powerful, ethical move,” while world-renowned Rabbi Shmuley Boteach pointed to the irony of an institution in Austria, an anti-Jewish hub during the Holocaust, schooling 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 school’s statement, which was flagged Tuesday by The Jerusalem Post, comes as the latest hit to the Harvard brand amid allegations of anti-Israel protests on campus seen as crossing the line into antisemitism, as well as a full-blown plagiarism scandal over the work of President Claudine Gay.

You know American universities are screwed when it’s the Austrians who have to sever ties with Harvard because of American academic antisemitism. This is one of the most astonishing headlines I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/ixBgc08501

— Rabbi Shmuley (@RabbiShmuley) December 27, 2023

The move also illustrates the pivotal role of Mr. Lauder, an heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune, and other top donors in the fight against campus antisemitism roiling the Ivy League.

Mr. Lauder, who serves as president of the English-language business school founded in 2003, suspended donations in October to the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater, over what he described as its inadequate response to campus antisemitism.

“You are forcing me to reexamine my financial support absent satisfactory measures to address antisemitism at the university,” Mr. Lauder said in an Oct. 16 letter to the university.

Penn President Liz Magill and board Chairman Scott Bok resigned this month following her testimony at a House committee hearing.

Calls for Ms. Gay to resign are escalating, but Harvard Corp. threw its support behind her in a Dec. 12 statement.

Billionaire Bill Ackman, a Harvard grad, said he was told by a “reliable” source that the university has asked Ms. Gay to resign but that “she has refused.”

“Gay has apparently said that if she is fired, she will sue. Gay has retained her own counsel,” said Mr. Ackman in a Sunday post 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.”