Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned after just over a year in the position, according to a message Shafik sent to the Columbia community.
“It is with sadness that I announce that I will step down as president of Columbia University, effective Aug. 14, 2024,” Shafik wrote in a message to the Columbia community. “It has also been a tumultuous time with difficult differences across our community. This period has placed great strain on my family, as well as others in our community.”
Minutes after Shafiq’s message, David Greenwald and Claire Shipman, co-chairs of the Columbia University Board of Trustees, sent an email thanking Shafiq for his service and saying they were “disappointed but accepting” his resignation. They also named Katrina Armstrong, dean of Columbia Medicine, as interim president.
“I am deeply honored to be appointed interim president of our beloved university,” Armstrong wrote in a message to the university. “Challenging times bring both opportunities and responsibilities for serious leadership to emerge from all groups and individuals in our community, and this is certainly such a moment at Columbia University.
“In assuming this role, I am acutely aware of the challenges the University has faced over the past year. We should not underestimate their importance, nor allow them to define who we are and what we become,” she continued.
Shafik had been caught in the middle of controversy related to anti-Semitism on campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and campus protests related to the conflict, as well as her decision in the spring to call in the NYPD to clear an encampment on Columbia’s campus.
After protesters occupied buildings on Columbia University’s campus, the NYPD conducted multiple raids and more than 100 people were arrested on campus.
Tensions have been rising on campuses since early August, with three deans at Columbia University resigning last week over messages containing anti-Semitic slurs.
On August 8, protesters vandalized the home of chief operating officer Cass Holloway with anti-Semitic slogans and Nazi swastikas. According to NBC.
Pro-Palestinian groups have also signaled they plan to resume camps and other protests once schools reopen.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other House Republicans also visited the Columbia campus in April and criticized Shafik and Columbia for failing to protect Jewish students on campus during Jewish camp.
“Three resignations, many more to come,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a leader of the House Republican Conference who has spent much of the last year investigating university presidents’ actions in the wake of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, posted on X. “Columbia University President Minouche Shafik’s failed presidency is unsustainable and it was only a matter of time before she was forced to resign.”
Stefanik appeared to be referring to University of Pennsylvania President Liz McGill and Harvard University President Claudine Gay, who both stepped down during the academic year.
Both Gay and McGill testified before the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee in December and faced intense criticism for not disciplining a student who called for the genocide of Jews.
McGill resigned shortly after the hearing, and Gay resigned in early January following allegations that he had plagiarized in his scholarship.
Shafik I wasn’t present at that hearing. Because she was at COP28.
Shafik testified before Congress in April about the university’s response to anti-Semitism, with House members questioning him for not effectively dealing with protesters on campus who made Jewish students feel unsafe.
After the hearing, she ordered the removal of the campus encampments, but faced intense criticism from protesters and many faculty members for calling in the NYPD without first consulting with the university senate.
She also faced criticism from Jewish students and groups for allowing a protest encampment against Israel’s war on Gaza to remain open for days before being cleared out, with Jewish students reporting threats and anti-Semitic behavior from protesters at the encampment.
The University Council of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences approved a motion of no confidence against Professor Shafik in May. Of the university’s 4,600 full-time faculty members, only 900 took part in the vote, with 65 percent voting no confidence.
Updated at 8:50pm ET.
