Columbia University president resigns after months of anti-Israel protests on New York campus

Nemat “Minouche” Shafik resigned yesterday as president of Columbia University, months after protests over the war between Israel and Hamas took over the campus in Upper Manhattan (NYC), the academic announced in a letter.

She was the first woman to lead Columbia University in its 270-year history. “Shafik resigned after months of anger over her handling of pro-Palestinian protests. She said she was leaving to lead a review of the British government’s approach to international development,” it said. The New York Times. “She is the third Ivy League president to resign following turbulent appearances in Congress and conflicts related to the war between Israel and Hamas.”

The Egyptian-born British economist (1962) and former high-ranking official at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England, as well as former president of the London School of Economics, faced pressure for her handling of the protest camps that were set up on the Columbia campus over the war between Israel and Hamas that began last October.

In his resignation letter, he cited progress during his term, which began in July 2023 — just three months before the war in the Middle East — but acknowledged that “it has also been a period of turmoil in which it has been difficult to overcome divergent points of view in our community.”

“This period has taken a toll on my family, as well as others in our community,” Shafik said in the letter cited by CNN. “Over the summer I was able to reflect and decided that moving forward at this time would allow Columbia to meet the challenges ahead.”

Shafik came under particular criticism after authorizing NYPD arrests on campus and for her testimony before the House Education Committee about the university’s handling of anti-Semitism.

“I have tried to walk a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion. It has been distressing – for the community, for me as president and on a personal level – to find myself, my colleagues and students being subjected to threats and abuse,” Shafik said.

American Katrina Armstrong has been named interim president, the university announced. Armstrong, a medical doctor, has served as executive vice president of Columbia’s department of biomedical and health sciences and chief executive of the medical campus. Shafik said she will work with Armstrong “to ensure an orderly transition.”

In 2015, Shafik was named one of the 100 most influential women in the world by Forbes. She is also a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom.

Shafik is the third Ivy League president to resign in recent months following her testimony during highly contentious Capitol Hill hearings about anti-Semitic protests on her campuses. In December, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned just days after her testimony. Her departure was followed in January by her Harvard colleague Claudine Gay, who was also accused of plagiarism.

Since Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on October 7, the NYPD and FBI have been on high alert in anticipation of attacks and riots during protests by supporters of both sides, with New York City having the largest Jewish population outside of Israel and also home to the United Nations. Measures include monitoring social media and other communications for possible terrorist threats.