University President Minouche Shafik resigned from her post on Wednesday, she wrote in an email to the Columbia community. The announcement comes only weeks before the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year and marks the end of a tumultuous year in the position.
During her time as president, Shafik faced fierce national scrutiny for her administration’s handling of pro-Palestinian student protests, academic freedom, and on-campus antisemitism. She is the third Ivy League president to resign from the position in relation to campus tensions over the war in Gaza following University of Pennsylvania’s Liz Magill and Harvard University’s Claudine Gay.
Shafik had a no-confidence vote from her faculty and effectively caused the chaos at both her own campus and others across the nation with her initial heavy handed response. The others just had the naivete to treat a political witch hunt like a good faith forum on school administration practices.