Shafik drew criticism over her dealing with of Gaza warfare protests that rocked the college campus earlier this yr.
Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia College, has introduced her resignation after a tumultuous yr marked by tensions with workers and college students over her dealing with of campus protests towards the Gaza war.
The college introduced her departure in an announcement on its web site on Wednesday.
“This era has taken a substantial toll on my household, because it has for others in our neighborhood,” Shafik wrote in a letter to the college’s workers and college students. “It has additionally been a interval of turmoil the place it has been troublesome to beat divergent views throughout our neighborhood.”
David Greenberg and Claire Shipman, co-chairs of the college’s Board of Trustees, stated they understood and revered her choice.
Protests towards the Gaza warfare started on Columbia’s New York Metropolis campus in April inspiring related encampments at different establishments throughout america and past.
Because the protests gathered momentum, Shafik was summoned to a congressional committee over allegations the college had failed to guard college students and workers from rising anti-Semitism.
The following day, she allowed New York Metropolis police onto the campus to clear the protests and about 100 folks have been arrested, triggering outrage from protesters and a few teachers and requires her resignation. Tensions rose additional on the finish of April, when police returned once more to campus, arresting some 300 folks and eradicating the encampment.
“Over the summer time, I’ve been in a position to replicate and have determined that my shifting on at this level would greatest allow Columbia to traverse the challenges forward,” Shafik stated. “I’m making this announcement now in order that new management may be in place earlier than the brand new time period begins.”
Shafik’s resignation was welcomed by a number of the protesters, as properly those that had accused her of permitting anti-Semitism to flourish.
The trustees stated Katrina Armstrong would step in as Columbia’s interim president. She is at the moment the chief government officer of the Columbia College Irving Medical Middle.
The brand new educational yr is because of begin on September 3.
Practically 40,000 folks have been killed since Israel started its warfare in Gaza, after Hamas fighters launched a shock assault into Israel on October 7 final yr. At the least 1,139 folks have been killed in that assault and a few 240 folks taken captive.
The warfare in Gaza has lowered a lot of the Palestinian territory to rubble and displaced most of its residents.
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in a case that’s now being investigated by the International Court of Justice.