Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, president of Columbia College. | Picture credit score: AP
Columbia College President Minouche Shafik resigned on Wednesday (August 15, 2024) after a quick and tumultuous tenure by which the top of the distinguished New York college confronted harsh scrutiny for her dealing with of protests and campus divisions over the struggle between Israel and Hamas.
This yr, the Ivy League college in Higher Manhattan was rocked by pupil demonstrations that culminated in scenes the place law enforcement officials armed with zip ties and riot shields stormed a constructing that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. Comparable protests swept throughout faculty campuses throughout the nation, many ending in violent clashes with police and hundreds of arrests.
The announcement additionally comes simply days after the college confirmed that three deans had resigned after officers mentioned they exchanged disparaging texts throughout a campus dialogue about Jewish life and anti-Semitism.
Defined | Why are college students protesting on US faculty campuses?
Shafik was additionally amongst college leaders summoned to seem earlier than Congress earlier this yr. She was sharply criticized by Republicans, who accused her of not doing sufficient to fight considerations about anti-Semitism on Columbia’s campus.
Ms. Shafik, who was appointed to the place in January of final yr, introduced her resignation in an emailed letter to the College neighborhood simply weeks earlier than lessons start on Sept. 3, 2024. On Monday (Aug. 12, 2024), the College started proscribing entry to campus to folks with Columbia IDs and registered company, saying it needed to curb “potential disruptions” as the brand new semester approaches.
In his letter, Shafik praised “progress in a number of vital areas” however lamented that in his tenure it had been “troublesome to beat divergent opinions in our neighborhood.”
“This era has taken a major toll on my household, in addition to different members of the neighborhood,” he wrote. “Over the summer season, I’ve been in a position to mirror and have determined that my departure right now would higher allow Columbia to fulfill the challenges forward.”
In the meantime, Columbia’s Board of Trustees introduced that Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia College Irving Medical Heart, will function interim president.
“Robust instances current each the chance and the accountability for considerate management to emerge from each group and particular person inside a neighborhood,” mentioned Armstrong, who can also be the college’s government vice chairman for Biomedical and Well being Sciences. “As I tackle this function, I’m conscious about the difficulties the College has confronted over the previous yr.”
Professional-Palestinian protesters first arrange tent encampments on the Columbia campus throughout Shafik’s testimony earlier than Congress in mid-April, the place he denounced anti-Semitism however confronted criticism for a way he had responded to professors and college students accused of bias.
Learn additionally: Following mass arrests at Columbia College, pro-Palestinian protests sweep throughout US campuses
The varsity despatched police to evict the tents the following day, just for the scholars to return and encourage a wave of comparable protests on campuses throughout the nation, the place college students referred to as on colleges to chop their monetary ties to Israel and corporations that supported the struggle.
Finally, talks between the college and protesters stalled, and when the college set a deadline for the activists to go away, a bunch took over Hamilton Corridor.
Even after the protests subsided, Columbia determined to cancel its college commencement ceremony and as an alternative opted for a sequence of smaller ceremonies at colleges.
The campus was largely quiet this summer season, however a conservative media outlet in June revealed photos of what it mentioned have been textual content messages exchanged by directors whereas attending the Could 31 panel dialogue “Jewish Life on Campus: Previous, Current and Future.”
The officers have been faraway from their positions, and Ms. Shafik mentioned in a July 8, 2024, letter to the college neighborhood that the messages have been unprofessional and “disturbingly touched on long-standing anti-Semitic tropes.”
Ms. Shafik’s critics have been fast to applaud the tip of her tenure, which is likely one of the shortest within the college’s historical past.
Home Speaker Johnson mentioned her resignation was “lengthy overdue” and will function a warning to different College directors that “tolerating or defending anti-Semitism is unacceptable and can have penalties.”
