EGN NEWS DESK
NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after a quick, tumultuous tenure that noticed the top of the celebrated New York college grapple with protests over the Israel-Hamas battle and criticism over how the college dealt with divisions associated to the battle.
The college in higher Manhattan was roiled this 12 months by scholar protests, culminating in scenes of law enforcement officials carrying zip ties and riot shields storming a constructing that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. Similar protests swept school campuses nationwide.
Read More: My Writing Students Were Arrested at Columbia. Their Voices Have Never Been More Essential
The announcement additionally comes simply days after the college confirmed that three deans had resigned after officers stated they exchanged disparaging texts throughout a campus dialogue about Jewish life and antisemitism. Shafik stated in a July 8 letter to the college group that the messages have been unprofessional and “disturbingly touched on historical antisemitic tropes.”
Shafik was additionally among the many college leaders known as for questioning earlier than Congress earlier this 12 months. She was closely criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing sufficient to fight issues about antisemitism on Columbia’s campus.
Shafik introduced her resignation in an emailed letter to the college group simply weeks earlier than the beginning of lessons on Sept. 3.
In her letter, she heralded “progress in quite a lot of essential areas” however lamented that her tenure had additionally been a “interval of turmoil the place it has been tough to beat divergent views throughout our group.” In her assertion, she acknowledged the campus protests factored into her choice to resign.
“This interval has taken a substantial toll on my household, because it has for others locally,” Shafik wrote. “Over the summer season, I’ve been in a position to replicate and have determined that my transferring on at this level would finest allow Columbia to traverse the challenges forward.”
The Board of Trustees introduced that Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, agreed to function interim president. The board stated Armstrong, who can also be the manager vice chairman for the college’s Health and Biomedical Sciences, “is the appropriate chief for this second.”
Armstrong stated she was “deeply honored” to be main the college at a “pivotal second for Columbia.”
“Challenging occasions current each the chance and the accountability for critical management to emerge from each group and particular person inside a group,” Armstrong wrote. “This is such a time at Columbia. As I step into this position, I’m aware of the trials the University has confronted over the previous 12 months.”
Read More: Columbia’s Relationship With Student Protesters Has Long Been Fraught
Other distinguished Ivy League leaders have stepped down in current months largely because of their response to the risky protests on campus.
University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in December after lower than two years on the job amid stress from donors and criticism over testimony at a congressional listening to the place she was unable to say beneath repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the college’s conduct coverage.
And in January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over her testimony earlier than Congress, the place she additionally was unable to say unequivocally that requires the genocide of Jews could be towards college coverage.
Shafik stated she is going to return to the United Kingdom to guide an effort by the international secretary’s workplace reviewing the federal government’s method to worldwide improvement and the way to enhance functionality.
“I’m very happy and appreciative that it will afford me the chance to return to work on combating international poverty and selling sustainable improvement, areas of lifelong curiosity to me,” she wrote. “It additionally permits me to return to the House of Lords to reengage with the essential legislative agenda put forth by the brand new UK authorities.”
Shafik was named president of the college final 12 months and was the primary girl to tackle the position, and she or he was one among a number of ladies newly appointed to take the reins at Ivy League establishments.
She had beforehand led the London School of Economics and earlier than that labored on the World Bank, the place she rose via the ranks to turn out to be the financial institution’s youngest-ever vice chairman. Shafik additionally labored on the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, adopted by stints on the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.
At the time of Shafik’s appointment, Columbia Board of Trustees chair Jonathan Lavine described her as a pacesetter who deeply understood “the academy and the world past it.”
“What set Minouche aside as a candidate,” Lavine had stated in a press release, “is her unshakable confidence within the very important position establishments of upper training can and should play in fixing the world’s most complicated issues.”
