Columbia University President Minouche Shafik Steps Down After Tumultuous Tenure Marked by Protests

NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after a short and turbulent period in charge. During her time at the helm of the prestigious New York university, she faced protests regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict and criticism over how the school responded to tensions related to the war.

The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan was rocked by student protests this year. The protests reached a peak with police officers armed with zip ties and riot shields storming a building that had been occupied by students. Similar protests swept through college campuses across the nation, leading to violent confrontations with law enforcement and mass arrests.

The announcement came just days after the university confirmed that three deans had stepped down. Officials said that these deans had exchanged derogatory text messages during a campus discussion about Jewish life and antisemitism.

Shafik was also among the university leaders called to testify before Congress earlier this year. Republican lawmakers harshly criticized her, accusing her of failing to adequately address concerns about antisemitism on Columbia’s campus.

Shafik announced her resignation in an emailed letter to the university community just weeks before the start of classes on Sept. 3. The university on Monday started limiting campus access to people with Columbia IDs and registered guests, citing a desire to prevent potential disruptions as the new semester approaches.

In her letter, Shafik acknowledged “progress in a number of important areas” but expressed regret that, during her time as president, it was “difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”

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

Columbia’s Board of Trustees, meanwhile, announced that Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president.

Armstrong, who also holds the position of executive vice president for the university’s Health and Biomedical Sciences, stated that she was “deeply honored” to be leading the university at a “pivotal moment for Columbia.”

“Challenging times present both the opportunity and the responsibility for serious leadership to emerge from every group and individual within a community,” she wrote. “As I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters initially set up tent encampments on Columbia’s campus during Shafik’s congressional testimony in mid-April. The school sent in police to dismantle the tents the next day, only for the students to return and spark a wave of similar protests at campuses nationwide.

As the protest continued for weeks, the school became a focal point of controversy. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson arrived to condemn the encampment, while Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came to show support for the protesters.

Ultimately, talks between the school and the protesters reached an impasse. As the school set a deadline for the activists to vacate, a group instead occupied Hamilton Hall.

Even after the protests were cleared, the school decided to forgo its university-wide commencement ceremony, opting instead for a series of smaller, school-specific ceremonies.

The campus remained relatively peaceful over the summer, but a conservative news outlet in June published images of what it claimed were text messages exchanged by administrators while attending a May 31 panel discussion titled “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.”

The officials were subsequently removed from their positions. Shafik, in a July 8 letter to the school community, described the messages as unprofessional and “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.”

Johnson, in a statement, called Shafik’s resignation “long overdue” and suggested it should serve as a cautionary tale for other university administrators that “tolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences.”

Other prominent Ivy League leaders have stepped down in recent months, largely due to their handling of the volatile protests on campus.

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned after less than two years in the role, facing pressure from donors and criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing. At the hearing, she was unable to state, under repeated questioning, that calls for the genocide of Jews on campus would violate the school’s conduct policy.

And in January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid plagiarism accusations and similar criticism over her testimony before Congress.

Shafik stated that she will return to the United Kingdom to lead an effort by the foreign secretary’s office to review the government’s approach to international development and explore ways to enhance its capabilities.

“I am very pleased and appreciative that this will afford me the opportunity to return to work on fighting global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas of lifelong interest to me,” she wrote. “It also enables me to return to the House of Lords to reengage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new U.K. government.”

Shafik was appointed president of the university last year, becoming the first woman to hold the position. She was one of several women newly appointed to lead Ivy League institutions.

The Egyptian-born economist previously led the London School of Economics, but had primarily made her mark outside academia with roles at the World Bank, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, the International Monetary Fund, and the Bank of England.

At the time of Shafik’s appointment, Columbia Board of Trustees chair Jonathan Lavine had described her as a leader with an “unshakable confidence in the vital role institutions of higher education can and must play in solving the world’s most complex problems.”

—Associated Press reporter Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this story.