Columbia University president resigns after Gaza protests turmoil

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Earl

Well-known member
Columbia University president resigns after Gaza protests turmoil

Max Matza
BBC News

Ms Shafik testified at a House Committee hearing about antisemitism on college campuses in April

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has resigned from her position, four months after the institution was rocked by campus protests over the war in Gaza.

Ms Shafik's resignation comes only a year after she took the position at the private Ivy League university in New York City, and just a few weeks before the autumn semester is due to begin.

Ms Shafik is now the third president of an Ivy League university to resign over her handling of Gaza war protests.

In April, Ms Shafik authorised New York Police Department officers to swarm the campus, a controversial decision that led to the arrests of about 100 students who were occupying a university building.

The episode marked the first time that mass arrests had been made on Columbia's campus since Vietnam War protests more than five decades ago.

The move inflamed other protests at dozens of colleges across the United States and Canada.

In an email to students and faculty on Wednesday, Ms Shafik wrote that she has overseen a "period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community".

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

Katrina Armstrong, chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as the interim president.
bbc.com
 
“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,” Ms Shafik wrote in her letter.

“I have tried to navigate a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion,” she continued.

“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.”

In a statement, the university's board of trustees co-chairs said: "Minouche has contributed so much to the Columbia community in an extraordinarily challenging time."

"While we are disappointed to see her leave us, we understand and respect her decision."

Students' anger over how Israel is fighting its war against Hamas has raised fraught questions for university leaders, who are already struggling with combustive campus debates around what is happening in the Middle East.

US college campuses have been a flashpoint for Gaza war protests since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, and Israel's subsequent incursion into the Gaza Strip.

The leaders of Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

The presidents of Harvard and UPenn ultimately resigned amid backlash over their handling of campus protests and congressional testimony, including their refusal to say that calling for the deaths of Jews could violate university policy.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, a fierce critic of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on US campuses, welcomed the news on X, formerly Twitter.

"I stood in President Shafik’s office in April and told her to resign, and while it is long overdue, we welcome today’s news," he said.

"Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief."
 
"Her resignation comes after three Columbia University deans also resigned last week, after text messages showed the group used "antisemitic tropes", according to a statement by Ms Shafik, while discussing Jewish students.

The text exchanges were originally published by the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce in early July."



Note that it was the Republican House Speaker who went to her office and told her to resign and it was the Republican-led House Committee on Education that published the text messages showing "antisemitic tropes."

Note that when Ms Shafik testified at a House Committee hearing about antisemitism on college campuses in April, the Republicans grilled her and the Democrats defended her.
 
College presidents and staff can not be antisemitic.

They can not discriminate due to religion.

The “Religion Clause” of the First Amendment protects all religions.
 
Earl said:
It appears that the staff and president at Columbia University were antisemitic.
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So if some one resigns that makes them antisemitic? Three quarters of you Trumpkins on this forum are retired, does that make you all antisemitix?
 
archives said:
So if some one resigns that makes them antisemitic? Three quarters of you Trumpkins on this forum are retired, does that make you all antisemitix?
Click to expand...
She resigned because she was outed to be antisemitic, Anchovies,..her staff too.
 
Hume said:
No she was not.
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Yes, she was.

She allowed the protestors to terrorize students for being Jewish.

Three of her staff wrote antisemitic tropes. The presidents of Harvard and Penn. had to resign for the same reason.
 
Earl said:
Yes, she was.

She allowed the protestors to terrorize students for being Jewish.

Three of her staff wrote antisemitic tropes. The presidents of Harvard and Penn. had to resign for the same reason.
Click to expand...
Jewish students were not terrorized. That is a lie.
 
Let's be clear, no other ethnic group can force leaders of universities to resign. This is why people don't want Jews in power.
 
She betrayed her students to Israeli-trained police thugs

moon

Thread 'She betrayed her students to Israeli-trained police thugs'

Resigned.jpg


www.bbc.co.uk

Columbia University president resigns after Gaza protests turmoil

Minouche Shafik's resignation comes a year after she took the position at the Ivy League university.
www.bbc.co.uk
 

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