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Shafik’s decision follows months of pressure from pro-Israel and pro-Palestine students to resign and near-universal condemnation of her handling of student protests.
“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,” wrote Shafik. (Indy Scholtens via Getty Images)

Columbia President Minouche Shafik Resigns

Shafik’s abrupt decision follows months of pressure from pro-Israel and pro-Palestine students to step down following a contentious year of campus protests.

Columbia president Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday evening, just three weeks before the start of the new academic year. Shafik, who was appointed to the role only last year, is the third Ivy League president to resign amid backlash over schools’ handling of student protests and campus antisemitism. 

The departure comes in the wake of numerous controversies on the school’s New York City campus since October 7, the biggest coming after anti-Israel protesters set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the campus’s main lawns and later occupied Hamilton Hall, sparking similar encampments and occupations across the country. Last week, three other administrators resigned after after leaked texts between them showed one had suggested Jewish students were using the campus moment for “fundraising potential.” 

Both pro-Israel Jewish students and pro-Palestine students had called for Shafik’s resignation over her handling of the protests: in April, Jewish students, joined by numerous congresspeople including Speaker Mike Johnson, said she had failed to enforce university rules in her handling of the encampment and failed to combat widespread antisemitism. Pro-Palestine protesters, meanwhile, criticized her for calling the NYPD to restore order on campus. In May, protesters swarmed Shafik’s personal home, chanting: “Minouche Shafik, we know you, you’re a fascist pig, too.”

“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” Shafik said in 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.”

After Shafik’s resignation, the co-chairs of Columbia’s trustees announced that Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center, would take the helm as interim president of the university.

On Twitter, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the groups behind the encampment, said Shafik “finally got the memo” after months of protests. However, they warned that future presidents must “pay heed to the Columbia student body’s overwhelming demand for divestment” or “end up exactly as President Shafik did.”

Meanwhile, Eden Yadegar, president of Columbia Students Supporting Israel, told The Free Press that Shafik’s resignation “is not going to be a golden ticket to a magically repaired institution.” She added: “This culture that now we’re seeing bubbling over the surface has been allowed to fester because of years and years of weak moral leaders like President Shafik.” 

Jonas Du is an intern at The Free Press. Read his piece “Getting Harassed on Campus Isn’t ‘Educational’ ” and follow him on X @jonasydu.

Elias Wachtel is an intern at The Free Press. Read his piece “My Generation Needs to Do National Service.”

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