University president resigns amid criticisms

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned after a brief tenure following criticisms over how she handled a series of raucous pro-Palestinian student protests on the Ivy League school's campus.

Shafik's resignation on Wednesday came a few months after students created a makeshift tent community in mid-April on the Manhattan campus in solidarity with the people of Gaza over the Israel-Palestine conflict.

When the tents were removed by police officers, the students returned the next day, setting off a wave of similar protests at universities nationwide.

Shafik's surprise resignation letter sent by email to the Columbia community cited the ill effects of the protests and discord around it. She wrote that while the campus had made progress, 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. 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," she wrote.

Columbia's Board of Trustees announced that the new interim president will be Katrina Armstrong, a medical doctor who has been the CEO of Columbia's medical center and dean of its medical school since 2022.

"Challenging times present both the opportunity and the responsibility for serious leadership to emerge from every group and individual within a community," Armstrong said in a statement. "As I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year."

Shafik, who was appointed in July last year, was the first female leader of the school. Her tenure was one of the shortest in the school's 270-year history.

She is the third leader of an Ivy League university to step down in eight months following highly charged testimonies at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism. All were criticized by Republican lawmakers.

After the testimonies, the University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in December. A month later, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned.

Nationwide campus demonstrations began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, killing more than 1,100 people.

Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive has killed 40,005 Palestinians, Gaza's Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators called on the schools to cut financial ties with Israel and any companies that supported the Israeli fighting.

Amid the protests, Shafik had denounced antisemitism on campus, but was criticized for not doing enough to reprimand some faculty members and students.

A new round of college protests is expected in the fall, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest, the main protest movement.

belindarobinson@chinadailyusa.com