Columbia president resigns, citing toll of controversy over pro-Palestinian protest

Minouche Shafik, the Columbia University president whose campus became an epicenter of unrest this year following Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, has resigned weeks before the start of the school year.

Shafik’s resignation, tendered Wednesday, means she is stepping down after about a year in the role. Her decision comes after widespread, sustained criticism of how she handled pro-Palestinian protests that have convulsed the Ivy League university since October 7.

“I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University effective August 14, 2024,” Shafik wrote in an email to the university on Wednesday evening. She said she had achieved progress in her role but added that “it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”

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

A pro-Palestinian student encampment that launched on campus last spring timed to her testimony in Congress on antisemitism at Columbia, inspired similar protests at universities around the world. The encampment captured global attention when some of its activists forcibly occupied a campus building, leading to a large police operation and dozens of arrests.

Her resignation means that the heads of four of the eight Ivy League schools have now stepped down in the wake of controversies tied to October 7.

Previous resignations 

The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University resigned following their own widely panned testimony on campus antisemitism. Months later, the president of Cornell University stepped down.

“Columbia University’s President Minouche Shafik’s failed presidency was untenable,” Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, the face of the congressional crusade against campus antisemitism, tweeted upon learning of Shafik’s resignation. “After failing to protect Jewish students and negotiating with pro-Hamas terrorists, this forced resignation is long overdue.”

Antisemitism scandals at the school persisted even after classes were let out. Last week, three Columbia deans resigned after getting caught sending disparaging messages about Jewish speakers at a campus panel on antisemitism during the peak of the protests.

“Here’s hoping the trustees appoint a successor who is willing to enforce policies, hold students/faculty accountable, and create a safe campus environment,” tweeted Elisha Baker, a student at the school and co-chair of the pro-Israel group Columbia Aryeh.

Shafik was only months into her tenure and only weeks into the first school year as president when Hamas attacked, launching a war in Gaza that is ongoing.

Rising tensions at Columbia 

Tensions at the school began nearly immediately as a coalition of pro-Palestinian groups principally blamed Israel for the violence and called on the school to cut ties with it. Days later, an Israeli student was attacked on campus while putting up hostage posters in what police treated as a hate crime.

As pro-Palestinian as well as pro-Israel protests ramped up, Columbia began restricting access to its campus. Shafik also began taking heat for not issuing a harsher condemnation or responding more forcefully to the protesters, who Jewish students claimed were creating a disruptive and hostile atmosphere.

A month into the crisis, Columbia banned Students for Justice in Palestine as well as Jewish Voice for Peace, two pro-Palestinian groups that it said violated school policies. Columbia was the first university to ban JVP, a Jewish group.

The turning point 

A turning point came on April 17, when Shafik appeared before a congressional panel appointed to investigate antisemitism on college campuses. Testifying in Congress, she said Columbia could do more to combat antisemitism. Back at Columbia, pro-Palestinian students took over a portion of the main lawn and launched their encampment.

The fallout has continued ever since. Pro-Israel voices have expressed dissatisfaction over conditions on campus for Jewish and pro-Israel students. Pro-Palestinian voices have remained furious over the police crackdown. And even New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who has expressed disdain for the protesters, became frustrated by the high costs incurred by the university’s request for police intervention.

And even before Shafik’s resignation, there were signs that the school expects the turmoil to continue. Columbia announced last week that it would continue to keep its campus closed to outsiders this fall, in anticipation of renewed protests.

Shafik, an economist, said she was taking a role with the British government, resuming work that she had done before taking the helm at Columbia just 13 months ago.

Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of Columbia’s medical center 50 blocks north of the main campus, will serve as interim president, the Columbia Spectator student newspaper reported.

“I fully appreciate the profound responsibility of meeting the needs of the many constituencies that make Columbia University the renowned leader in higher education that it is,” Armstrong wrote in a message to the university circulating online. “With optimism and resolve, let us move forward together, embracing the opportunity to renew our vision and strengthen our community.”

Some who had criticized Shafik celebrated her resignation. “After months of chanting ‘Minouche Shafik you can’t hide,’ she finally got the memo,” tweeted Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. “To be clear, any future president who does not pay heed to the Columbia student body’s overwhelming demand for divestment will end up exactly as President Shafik did.”

Others cautioned against feeling relief about the leadership change.

“People on all sides of the issue should exercise patience,” tweeted Eliana Goldin, a student in the joint undergraduate program of Columbia and the Jewish Theological Seminary and another co-chair of Columbia Aryeh. “The next person may be even worse for your cause…”