Columbia University President Steps Down After Backlash Over Pro-Hamas Riots

A university should be an institution for learning, where ideas are cultivated and not canceled; and ideologies tackled, not imposed.

However, early this year, we saw the chaos brought by woke leadership and administration in Ivy League schools.

Students felt unsafe, while university leaders and administrators gaslighted them when they sounded the alarm.

With these, it is justified that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik stepped down for her failure to lead and protect the integrity of the institution and its students.

Shafik resigned on Wednesday and is now heading back to her home country after leading the Ivy League in less than a year mired by chaotic pro-Hamas rallies.

In her announcement, the Columbia president points to the ‘period of turmoil’ in her decision to step aside.

“This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community,” 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.”

“I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins.”

Shafik added in her letter that she is leaving to return to the United Kingdom.

“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,” she wrote.

Dr. Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will stand as interim president while the school decides on the issue.

In her letter addressing the student body, Armstrong recognized the turmoil of the past year.

“As I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year. We should neither understate their significance nor allow them to define who we are and what we will become,” Armstrong quipped.

However, many members of the community doubt there will be a realizable change because of the recent change in leadership.

In an interview with The Post, Matthew Waxman, a professor and member of the university’s task force on antisemitism, remarked, “University leadership has been promising that combating antisemitism is a priority, but many students are arriving in just a few weeks, and I don’t have confidence that the campus situation this fall is going to look any different than it did in the spring.”