Columbia University President Dr. Nemat (Minouche) Shafik testifies during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing on anti-Semitism on college campuses on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2024. (DREW ANGERER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her immediate resignation Wednesday, months after protests erupted on campus against the war between Israel and Hamas.
“It is with sadness that I write to inform you that I am resigning as president of Columbia University,” Shafik wrote in a letter to university members.
The announcement came after protests erupted on the university’s campus in April, resulting in arrests, property damage and backlash over the university’s handling of the protests.
“It has been difficult to overcome the differing views in our community,” Shafik said in her letter, adding, “This time has been very stressful for my family, as well as others in our community.”
“Over the summer, I had time to reflect and concluded that my departure would best help Columbia meet the challenges ahead. I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the start of the new term,” Shafik said.
Shafik, who will be the first woman and person of color to lead the university in 2023, is the third president of an Ivy League university to resign in recent months.
Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill had previously announced their resignations after testifying before Congress about dealing with anti-Semitism on campus.
During her testimony before Congress in April, Shafik told the committee that Columbia “strives to be a community free from discrimination and hatred in all forms, and we condemn the anti-Semitism that is so widespread today.”
Shafik said she took the job to foster a diverse community at Columbia.
“But on October 7, the world changed and so did my focus,” she said.
The day after Shafik’s statement, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested and a tent camp on campus was cleared after Shafik gave the New York Police Department the green light to clear the demonstrators. What followed were weeks of protests and large-scale encampments, culminating in the occupation of the university’s Hamilton Hall.
In May, Columbia University’s Faculty of Humanities and Sciences expressed a vote of no confidence in Shafik.
“I have tried to find a way forward that upholds academic principles and treats everyone fairly and compassionately,” Shafik wrote in her letter. “It was disturbing – to the community, to me as president, and on a personal level – that I, my colleagues, and my students were the target of threats and abuse.”
Shafik, who previously headed the London School of Economics and worked for the World Bank, announced that she would return to the UK after her resignation.
“I am honoured to have been asked by the UK Foreign Secretary to chair a review of the government’s approach to international development and consider how to improve performance,” Shafik said.
Katrina Armstrong, MD, who heads the university’s medical school and medical center, was named interim president following Shafik’s departure.
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