NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after a brief, turbulent tenure in which the head of the prestigious New York university grappled with protests against the war between Israel and Hamas and criticism of the university’s handling of the conflict-related divisions.
The school in Upper Manhattan has been rocked by student protests this year, culminating in scenes of police armed with zip ties and riot shields storming a building occupied by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Similar protests have taken place on college campuses across the country.
Read more: My writing students were arrested at Columbia. Their voices have never been more important
The announcement came just days after the school confirmed that three deans had resigned after officials said they exchanged derogatory text messages during a campus discussion about Jewish life and anti-Semitism. Shafik said in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and “touched on old anti-Semitic tropes in a disturbing way.”
Shafik was also among the university leaders summoned to testify before Congress earlier this year. She was heavily criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism on the Columbia University campus.
Shafik announced her resignation in an emailed letter to the university community just weeks before classes began on September 3.
In her letter, she announced “progress in a number of important areas,” but lamented that her tenure had also been a “time of unrest, during which it was difficult to overcome differing views within our community.” In her statement, she acknowledged that the protests on campus had played a role in her decision to resign.
“This time has been very stressful for my family, as well as others in the community,” Shafik wrote. “Over the summer, I was able to reflect and concluded that my departure at this point would best help Columbia meet the challenges ahead.”
The board of trustees announced that Katrina Armstrong, CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, has agreed to serve as interim president. The board of trustees said Armstrong, who is also vice chair for the university’s health and biomedical sciences, is “the right leader for this moment.”
Armstrong said she was “deeply honored” to lead the university at a “pivotal moment for Columbia.”
“Challenging times present both the opportunity and the responsibility for every group and every individual within a community to demonstrate serious leadership,” Armstrong wrote. “This is such a time at Columbia. As I assume this role, I am acutely aware of the challenges the University has faced over the past year.”
Read more: Columbia’s relationship with protesting students has long been strained
Other prominent Ivy League leaders have resigned in recent months, largely because of their response to violent protests on campus.
The president of the University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill, resigned in December after less than two years in office, citing pressure from donors and criticism of her testimony at a congressional hearing, where she was unable to comment, despite repeated questioning, on the fact that calls for genocide against Jews on campus violated the university’s code of conduct.
And in January, Claudine Gay, president of Harvard University, resigned. She was accused of plagiarism and criticized for her testimony before Congress, where she had also failed to clearly state that calls for genocide against the Jews were against university policy.
Shafik said she would return to the UK to lead an initiative by the UK Foreign Secretary’s Office to review the government’s approach to international development and ways to improve its performance.
“I am delighted and grateful that this gives me the opportunity to return to working on tackling global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas that have always interested me,” she wrote. “It also allows me to return to the House of Lords to re-engage with the new UK government’s important legislative agenda.”
Shafik was named president of the university last year, the first woman to hold the position, and was one of several women newly appointed to the leadership of Ivy League institutions.
She previously headed the London School of Economics and before that worked at the World Bank, where she rose through the ranks to become the bank’s youngest vice president. Shafik also worked at the UK Department for International Development, followed by stints at the International Monetary Fund and the Bank of England.
At the time of Shafik’s appointment, Columbia Board of Trustees Chairman Jonathan Lavine described her as a leader who understood “the academy and the world outside it” very well.
“What distinguishes Minouche as a candidate,” Lavine said in a statement, “is her unwavering faith in the critical role that higher education can and must play in solving the world’s most complex problems.”
