Her campus was one of the epicenter of the country’s biggest and most violent anti-Israel protests and demonstrations.
Now Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned from her post following wide-spread scrutiny over her handling of the school’s protests and tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.
According to The Hill, Shafik announced her resignation, effective immediately, in a Wednesday message to the Columbia community.
“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,” she wrote.
Her sudden resignation was celebrated by many GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“I stood in President Shafik’s office in April and told her to resign, and while it is long overdue, we welcome today’s news. Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief,” Johnson wrote on the social platform X Wednesday, adding, “We hope that President Shafik’s resignation serves as an example to university administrators across the country that tolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences.”
My statement on the Resignation of Columbia President Minouche Shafik:
As a result of President Shafik’s refusal to protect Jewish students and maintain order on campus, Columbia University became the epicenter for virulent antisemitism that has plagued many American university…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) August 15, 2024
House Republican Conference leader Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who spent much of the last year investigating university presidents for their conduct in the wake of the protests, also praised her resignation.
“THREE DOWN, so many to go,” she wrote. “After failing to protect Jewish students and negotiating with pro Hamas terrorists, this forced resignation is long overdue. We will continue to demand moral clarity, condemnation of antisemitism, protection of Jewish students and faculty, and stronger leadership from American higher education institutions.”
The “three down” reference is likely referencing former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and former Harvard University President Claudine Gay, both of whom resigned during the past academic year in the wake of mounting criticism over their handling of antisemitic conduct on campus.
Shafik’s, who became Columbia’s president a little more than a year ago, saw the university become ground zero for pro-Palestinian demonstrations that roiled the New York campus and other schools across the country for weeks last spring.
The demonstrations at Columbia involved student encampments, a building occupation and hundreds of arrests.