Columbia president resigns unexpectedly

Columbia College President Minouche Shafik resigned abruptly Wednesday night time after months of strain from Congress and campus constituents over her dealing with of pro-Palestinian scholar protests.

Shafik spent just a little greater than a yr within the function, a tenure fraught with pressure over how she navigated campus demonstrations associated to the conflict between Israel and Hamas that started final fall. The protests at Columbia—which set off a wave of comparable demonstrations at schools throughout the nation—culminated within the building of an encampment within the heart of campus and the occupation of an administrative constructing for almost two weeks, ensuing within the arrest of greater than 100 protesters in April.

Shafik confronted criticism from some college students and school for the arrests, and from Congress for the way lengthy it took her to behave.

She was considered one of seven college presidents who testified in latest months earlier than the Home Training and Workforce Committee over issues about antisemitism on school campuses. Now she is the third of these seven to step down, becoming a member of former Harvard College President Claudine Homosexual and College of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill, each of whom resigned after a extensively panned listening to efficiency. Homosexual and Magill got here beneath hearth for his or her unwillingness to sentence hypothetical requires a genocide of Jewish college students on their respective campuses, providing equivocating solutions.

The Resignation

In a resignation letter to the Columbia neighborhood posted on-line, Shafik wrote that she “imagine[d] … we’ve made progress in a variety of necessary areas” but additionally that “it has been a interval of turmoil the place it has been tough to beat divergent views throughout our neighborhood.” She added that “this era has taken a substantial toll on my household.”

“Over the summer season, I’ve been capable of replicate and have determined that my transferring on at this level would finest allow Columbia to traverse the challenges forward. I’m making this announcement now in order that new management may be in place earlier than the brand new time period begins,” Shafik wrote.

Columbia has already appointed Dr. Katrina Armstrong, an administrator and professor, as interim president within the wake of Shafik’s resignation, in accordance with the college web site.

Shafik mentioned that she has been requested by the UK’s Overseas Secretary to tackle a world improvement function, an space through which Shafik, who beforehand labored for the Financial institution of England and served as president of the London College of Economics, has previous expertise.

Instant Reactions

New York consultant Elise Stefanik, the Republican inquisitor who emerged as a key voice within the Congressional hearings, beforehand celebrated the resignations of Homosexual and Magill. On Wednesday night time, she took one other on-line victory lap: “THREE DOWN, so many to go,” Stefanik posted on social media.

Stefanik added, “Shafik’s failed presidency was untenable and it was solely a matter of time earlier than her pressured resignation” and accused Shafik of “failing to guard Jewish college students.”

Fellow Republican consultant Virginia Foxx, of North Carolina, additionally launched a press release accusing Shafik of permitting “a disturbing wave of antisemitic harassment, discrimination, and dysfunction” beneath her management, failing to take care of a protected studying setting for all college students, and permitting “flagrant violations of the legislation and the college guidelines” to go unpunished.

Some college students at Columbia additionally celebrated Shafik’s exit.

“After months of chanting ‘Minouche Shafik you may’t cover’ she lastly bought the memo. To be clear, any future president who doesn’t pay heed to the Columbia scholar physique’s overwhelming demand for divestment [from Israel] will find yourself precisely as President Shafik did,” Columbia College students for Justice in Palestine, a bunch energetic in campus protests, posted on social media.

The Basis for Particular person Rights and Expression (FIRE) additionally launched a press release.

“Marked by chaos and cowardice, Minouche Shafik’s tenure was a catastrophe for freedom of expression. Columbia College now has a possibility to pick a pacesetter who will recommit the establishment to defending free speech and tutorial freedom,” the free speech advocacy group posted on social media. “College students, school, trustees, and alumni ought to demand no much less.”

This can be a growing story. Please verify again for updates.