Columbia University President Minouche Shafik Quits Over Campus Pro-Palestinian Protest

Ms Shafik becomes the third president of an Ivy-league institution to quit over the demonstrations by students who were aggrieved about Israeli incursion in Gaza.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned from her position over criticisms that questioned her leadership for inviting the police to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters on campus ground.

“It has been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community,” Ms Shafik wrote in her resignation notice Wednesday night. “This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community.”

“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 added.

Ms Shafik becomes the third president of an Ivy-league institution to quit over the demonstrations by students who were aggrieved about Israeli incursion in Gaza.

Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania similarly resigned in December 2023, as did Claudine Gay of Harvard University in January 2024, who was also accused of plagiarising some of her scholarly works.

The Board of Trustees appointed Columbia’s Irving Medical Centre’s chief, Katrina Armstrong, as the interim president.

“We believe that Katrina is the right leader for this moment,” the Board of Trustees said in a statement.

More than 300 students were arrested for setting up tents on school lawns to protest the killings of Palestinians by the Israeli military. The New York police came to the campus after Ms Shafik invited them.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik mocked Ms  Shafik in a statement asserting that her resignation was long “overdue” and that “Shafik’s failed presidency was untenable.”