NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned effective immediately, the head of the prestigious New York university announced Wednesday in a message to the university community.
The announcement comes after the Manhattan university was rocked this year by student protests against the war between Israel and Hamas, culminating in scenes where police armed with zip ties and riot shields stormed a building that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Similar protests have broken out on college campuses across the country.
In her letter, Shafik welcomed “progress in a number of important areas,” but lamented that her tenure had also been a “period of turmoil where it was difficult to bridge the differences of opinion within our community.” In her statement, she acknowledged that the campus protests played a role in her decision to resign.
“This period has had a significant impact on my family, as well as on others in the community,” Shafik wrote. “Over the summer, I have had a chance to reflect and have decided that leaving at this time would better position Columbia to weather the challenges ahead.”
In addition to the protests, the school fired three deans in July, who have since resigned, after officials said they exchanged derogatory messages during a campus discussion about Jewish life and anti-Semitism. Shafik said in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and “touched on longstanding anti-Semitic tropes in troubling ways.”
Shafik was also among university leaders summoned for questioning before Congress earlier this year. She has been roundly criticized by Republicans who have accused her of not doing enough to combat concerns about anti-Semitism on Columbia’s campus.
She said in her letter that she would return to the UK to lead an effort by the Foreign Secretary’s office to review the government’s approach to international development and look at how to improve capacity.
“I am very pleased and grateful to be able to resume work on tackling global poverty and promoting sustainable development, two areas of long-standing interest to me,” she wrote. “It also allows me to return to the House of Lords to re-engage in the important legislative agenda put forward by the new UK government.”
Interim President Katrina Armstrong said she was “deeply honored” to lead the university at a “pivotal moment for Columbia.”
“Difficult times present both an opportunity and a responsibility for serious leadership to emerge from every group and individual within a community,” Armstrong wrote. “This is the case at Columbia. As I take on this role, I am acutely aware of the challenges the university has faced over the past year.”
Armstrong is a physician and serves as chief executive officer of Columbia University Irving Medical Center and executive vice president for health and biomedical sciences at Columbia University.
Shafik was named president of the university last year, the first woman to hold the position, and she was one of several newly appointed women to take the reins at Ivy League institutions.
She previously headed the London School of Economics and before that worked at the World Bank, where she rose through the ranks to become the institution’s youngest ever vice-president. Shafik also worked at the UK’s Department for International Development, before moving to the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.
At the time of Shafik’s appointment, Columbia Board of Trustees Chairman Jonathan Lavine described her as a leader who deeply understood “the academy and the world beyond.”
“What sets Minouche apart as a candidate,” Lavine said in a statement, “is her unwavering belief in the vital role that institutions of higher education can and must play in solving the world’s most complex problems.”
Originally published:
