Columbia President Minouche Shafik Resigns from Office

Shafik’s resignation, effective on August 14th, comes after months of criticism regarding the President’s response to student protests on campus.

Photography by Haley Scull/The Barnard Bulletin

By Sophie Meritt and Lily Sones

August 14, 2024

In an email to the Columbia community on Wednesday evening, Minouche Shafik announced that she is “stepping down as president of Columbia University.”

Her resignation, effective today, August 14th, comes just over a year after she assumed office on July 1st, 2023. She will return to the UK House of Lords and serve as the UK’s Foreign Secretary. 

Shafik accredited this decision to how “a period of turmoil” on campus has affected her family, citing the time as taking “a considerable toll on [her] family, as it has for others in [the] community.” 

Shafik’s decision comes in the wake of multiple Ivy League presidential resignations in the past year. Former Harvard President Claudine Gay and Former University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill stepped down after the December congressional hearing on antisemitism. Shafik was not present at this hearing. 

“I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion. It has been distressing–for the community, for me as president and on a personal level–to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse.” 

Dr. Katrina Armstrong, CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president. She emailed the Columbia community following Shafik’s resignation to express her “unwavering commitment” to the University in these “challenging times.” 

Armstrong highlights “the familiar excitement and promise of a new academic year” juxtaposed with the unprecedented “presence of change and continuing concerns.” 

This is a developing story.