Columbia University president Minouche Shafik announced her resignation yesterday.
She is now the third Ivy League president to step down over anti-Israel protests that roiled US campuses in the spring. In her resignation letter, Shafik wrote, “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.”
Shafic testified before House lawmakers back in April about anti-Semitism on college campuses. There she refused to say whether the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is antisemitic.
Columbia saw some of the most disruptive campus protests. Back in May, protestors broke into and occupied Hamilton Hall, in what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called an act of “lawlessness.” Around 40 people were arrested.