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Columbia University President\u00a0Minouche Shafik<\/a>\u00a0resigned Wednesday after a brief, tumultuous tenure that saw the head of the prestigious New York university face heavy scrutiny for her handling of protests and campus divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.<\/p>\n The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan was roiled this year by student demonstrations,\u00a0culminating in<\/a>\u00a0scenes of police officers carrying zip ties and riot shields storming a building that had been occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. Similar protests swept college campuses nationwide, with many leading to violent clashes with police and thousands of arrests.<\/p>\n The announcement also comes just days after the school confirmed that\u00a0three deans had resigned<\/a>\u00a0after officials said they exchanged disparaging texts during a campus discussion about Jewish life and antisemitism.<\/p>\n Shafik was also among the university leaders\u00a0called for questioning<\/a>\u00a0before Congress earlier this year. She was heavily criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing enough to combat concerns about antisemitism on Columbia\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n Shafik, who began the role in July last year, announced her resignation in an emailed letter to the university community just weeks before the start of classes on Sept. 3. The university on Monday began restricting campus access to people with Columbia IDs and registered guests, saying it wanted to curb \u201cpotential disruptions\u201d as the new semester nears.<\/p>\n In her letter, Shafik heralded \u201cprogress in a number of important areas\u201d but lamented that during her tenure it was \u201cdifficult to overcome divergent views across our community.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in the community,\u201d she wrote. \u201cOver 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Columbia\u2019s Board of Trustees meanwhile announced that Katrina Armstrong, the CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will serve as interim president.<\/p>\n \u201cChallenging times present both the opportunity and the responsibility for serious leadership to emerge from every group and individual within a community,\u201d said Armstrong, who is also the executive vice president for the university\u2019s Health and Biomedical Sciences. \u201cAs I step into this role, I am acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year.\u201d<\/p>\n Pro-Palestinian protesters\u00a0first set up<\/a>\u00a0tent encampments on Columbia\u2019s campus during Shafik\u2019s congressional testimony in mid-April, where she denounced antisemitism but faced criticism for how she\u2019d responded to faculty and students accused of bias.<\/p>\n The school sent in police to\u00a0clear the tents<\/a>\u00a0the following day, only for the students to return and inspire\u00a0a wave of similar protests<\/a>\u00a0at campuses across the country, with students calling for schools to cut financial ties with Israel and the companies supporting the war.<\/p>\n As the protest rolled on for weeks, the school was thrust into the national spotlight. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson\u00a0showed up<\/a>\u00a0to denounce the encampment, while Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\u00a0came to support it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Eventually, talks between the school and the protesters came to a standstill, and as the school set a deadline for the activists to clear out, a group instead\u00a0took over Hamilton Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even after the protests were cleared, Columbia decided to\u00a0cancel its university-wide commencement ceremony<\/a>, instead opting for a series of smaller, school-based ceremonies.<\/p>\n The campus was mostly quiet this summer, but a conservative news outlet in June published images of what it said were text messages exchanged by administrators while attending the May 31 panel discussion \u201cJewish Life on Campus: Past, Present and Future.\u201d<\/p>\n The officials\u00a0were removed from their posts<\/a>, with Shafik saying in a July 8 letter to the school community that the messages were unprofessional and \u201cdisturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.\u201d<\/p>\n Shafik\u2019s critics were quick to cheer the end of her tenure, which is one of the\u00a0shortest in school history<\/a>.<\/p>\n Johnson, the house speaker, said her resignation was \u201clong overdue\u201d and should serve as a cautionary example to other university administrators that \u201ctolerating or protecting antisemites is unacceptable and will have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n The student group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine wrote in a\u00a0post on the social media platform X<\/a>\u00a0that Shafik \u201cfinally got the memo\u201d after months of protests. The campus chapter of\u00a0Jewish Voice for Peace wrote<\/a>\u00a0it will \u201cnot be placated by her removal as the university\u2019s repression of the pro-Palestinian student movement continues.\u201d<\/p>\n Other prominent Ivy League leaders have stepped down in recent months, in large part due to their response to the volatile protests on campus.<\/p>\n University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned in December after less than two years on the job\u00a0amid pressure from donors and criticism<\/a>\u00a0over testimony at a congressional hearing where she was unable to say under repeated questioning that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school\u2019s conduct policy.<\/p>\n And in January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned amid plagiarism accusations and\u00a0similar criticism<\/a>\u00a0over her testimony before Congress.<\/p>\n Shafik said she will return to the United Kingdom to lead an effort by the foreign secretary\u2019s office to review the government\u2019s approach to international development.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very pleased and appreciative that this will afford me the opportunity to return to work on fighting global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas of lifelong interest to me,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n