Columbia president resigns amid fallout over anti-Israel protests
(The Center Square) — Columbia University’s embattled president has resigned amid fallout over her handling of protests over the Israel-Hamas war and complaints of a rise in religious discrimination on campus.
Minouche Shafik’s departure, announced on Wednesday, comes only a year after she took the position at the university in New York City, and a few weeks before the fall semester is due to begin.
She is the third president of an Ivy League university to resign in the fallout over the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have roiled college campuses over the past year.
“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik said in a statement announcing her resignation. “Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead.”
The university announced that Katrina Armstrong, chief executive officer of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president.
The move by Shafik to step down was welcomed by New York Republicans, who have been calling for her firing over the handling of the protests and a spike in discrimination against Jewish students attending the university.
“This is months late, but welcome news for the thousands of Jewish students made to feel unsafe on their own campus due to Shafik’s inaction,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., posted on social media.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said Shafik’s “failed presidency was untenable” and that it “was only a matter of time before her forced resignation.”
“After failing to protect Jewish students and negotiating with pro Hamas terrorists, this forced resignation is long overdue,” she said in a statement. “We will continue to demand moral clarity, condemnation of antisemitism, protection of Jewish students and faculty, and stronger leadership from American higher education institutions.”
In an email to students and faculty, Shafik said she has overseen a “period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”
“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” she wrote. “It has been distressing — for the community, for me as president and on a personal level — to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse.”
Elite colleges and universities like Columbia, MIT and Harvard have been the scene of anti-Israel protests in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, prompted by the Oct. 7 attack by the terrorist group Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and injured many others. More than 2,500 demonstrators nationwide have been arrested at dozens of college campuses.
House Republicans grilled Shafik and other elite university leaders during a hearing in April in response to protests and the occupation of a building at Columbia University that lasted weeks before the NYPD was called in to break up the demonstrations. Protesters damaged the building and spray-painted pro-Hamas slogans on the walls.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, a fierce critic of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses, said under Shafik’s leadership, Columbia University had become “the epicenter for virulent antisemitism that has plagued many American university campuses since Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel last fall.”
“Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief,” he said in a statement. “We hope that President Shafik’s resignation serves as an example to university administrators across the country that tolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences.”
