Columbia University president resigns after clashes on Israel-Hamas war

A woman with dark shoulder-length hair and red glasses gestures with her hand while speaking

By Michael R. Sisak and Philip Marcelo

Published Aug. 14, 2024 Updated Aug. 15, 2024 1:24 PM PT

NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned after a brief, tumultuous tenure that saw the head of the prestigious New York university face heavy scrutiny for her handling of protests and campus divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.

The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan was roiled this year by student demonstrations, culminating in scenes of police officers wielding zip ties and riot shields storming a building that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. Similar protests swept college campuses nationwide, with many leading to violent clashes with police and thousands of arrests.

The announcement Wednesday also comes days after the school confirmed that three deans had resigned after officials said they exchanged disparaging texts during a campus discussion about Jewish life and antisemitism.

Shafik was also among the university leaders called for questioning before Congress this year. She was criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing enough to combat concerns about antisemitism on campus.

Shafik, who took up her post in July last year, 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 began restricting campus access to people with Columbia IDs and registered guests, saying it wanted to curb “potential disruptions” as the new semester nears.

In her letter, Shafik heralded “progress in a number of important areas” but lamented that during her tenure 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 announced that Katrina Armstrong, the chief executive of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president.

“Challenging times present both the opportunity and the responsibility for serious leadership to emerge from every group and individual within a community,” said Armstrong, who is also the executive vice president for the university’s Health and Biomedical Sciences. “As I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters first set up tent encampments on Columbia’s campus during Shafik’s congressional testimony in mid-April, where she denounced antisemitism but faced criticism for how she’d responded to faculty and students accused of bias.

The school sent in police to clear the tents the following day, only for the students to return and inspire a wave of similar protests at campuses across the country, with students calling for schools to cut financial ties with Israel and the companies supporting the war.

As the protest rolled on for weeks, the school was thrust into the national spotlight. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana showed up to denounce the encampment, while Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York came to support it.

Eventually, talks between the school and the protesters came to a standstill, and as the school set a deadline for the activists to clear out, a group instead took over Hamilton Hall.

Even after the protests were cleared, Columbia decided to cancel its universitywide commencement ceremony, instead opting for a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies.

The campus was mostly quiet this summer, but a conservative news outlet in June published images of what it said were text messages exchanged by administrators while attending the May 31 panel discussion “Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.”

The officials were removed from their posts, with Shafik saying in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.”

Shafik said 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.

The Egyptian-born economist previously led the London School of Economics, but had made her mark largely 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.

Sisak and Marcelo write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.