Citing “turmoil” and “toll,” Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her resignation Wednesday after only one year on the job.
Shafik is now the fourth Ivy League president in the span of nine months to step down, joining University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill in December, Harvard University President Claudine Gay in January, and Cornell University President Martha Pollack in May, the latter of whom framed her departure as a retirement.
All these presidents presided over turbulent times on their campuses since the Oct. 7 terrorists attacks against Israeli citizens and Israel’s response, which prompted rampant antisemitism and pro-Palestinian campus encampments that roiled their institutions — and criticisms that the protests were poorly handled.
In Shafik’s case, she oversaw a campus that served as ground zero for some of the most virulent and aggressive anti-Israel protests in the nation, during which students took over and barricaded themselves in a campus building and hundreds of students were arrested. The unrest prompted Columbia to cancel is graduation ceremony, citing safety concerns.
Undeterred, approximately 25 anti-Israel activists crashed Columbia’s alumni reunion event in May on the South Lawn, putting up tents and hanging banners, one of which read “We’re Back Bitches.”
Most recently, this month, the apartment building of Columbia University’s chief operating officer was vandalized by anti-Israel activists, and included red paint, live crickets and mealworms.
Also this month, three of the four Columbia University administrators caught mocking Jewish leaders and students in a series of texts resigned.
In her announcement, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, Shafik said it was all too much:
I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University effective August 14, 2024. However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our 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. I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins.
The Hill reported that after Shafik testified before Congress in April about her university’s response to antisemitism, she “ordered the removal of encampments on campus … and faced heavy criticism from protestors and droves of faculty members for calling in the NYPD without first consulting with the university’s senate.”
“She also faced criticism from Jewish students and organizations for allowing the encampments, which were protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, to stand for days before they were removed. Jewish students reported intimidation and antisemitic actions from protestors present at the encampment.”
Shafik will be replaced by Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia’s Irving Medical Center and dean of the university’s medical school, on an interim basis, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
MORE: Columbia administrator’s apartment building vandalized by anti-Israel protesters
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