A new Columbia University acting president replaced interim president Katrina Armstrong on Friday amid the institution's attempts to placate the US federal government over campus antisemitism and pro-terrorist radicalism, and more recently a row over whether Armstrong was Janus-faced about the administration's commitment to enforcing anti-discrimination and protest rules such as mask bans.
According to a Friday university statement, Board of Trustees co-chair Claire Shipman would become the Columbia acting president "effective immediately" until the board completed its search for permanent president.
Shipman said that she assumed the role with "a clear understanding of the serious challenges before us and a steadfast commitment to act with urgency, integrity, and work with our faculty to advance our mission, implement needed reforms, protect our students, and uphold academic freedom and open inquiry."
Board of Trustees chair David Greenwald said in the statement that Armstrong, who would be returning to lead the university's Irving Medical Center, accepted the role at a time of uncertainty and "worked tirelessly to promote the interests of our community."
In a separate Friday statement, Armstrong said that her heart was always with sciences and healing, and it was in this field that she could best serve the university and its community.
"Over the last few months, I appreciate having had the opportunity to play a small part in navigating this vast enterprise through some of the most difficult moments in its history," said Armstrong. "The world needs Columbia University, and you can be assured that I will do everything I can to tell that story."
Mask bans during protests
The transition came after the controversy surrounding a Wall Street Journal report about a meeting between Armstrong and faculty in which Armstrong downplayed commitments to the federal government towards the restoration of $400 million in government grants and contracts that were cancelled on March 7. According to the WSJ, Armstrong had told the faculty that there was no ban on masks during unauthorized protests, despite agreeing to such a ban and other conditions in a statement last Friday.
Armstrong rejected "any suggestion that these measures are illusory, or lack my personal support, is unequivocally false," in a Saturday statement, assuring that these "changes are real, and they are right for Columbia."
Statements during internal meetings attributed to the then-interim president were made without full context, she explained, and she regretted any confusion and "inconsistent statements." Armstrong committed to implementing the mask ban and other changes with support of Columbia's leadership and Board of Trustees.
Yet amid the confusion in messaging, activists tested the new mask ban, with the Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition holding a Monday masked rally to demonstrate against the rule.
"Wear a mask on Monday to protest mask bans and the fascist trustees," CPSC said on X last Sunday.
The Columbia University Medical Center for Palestine also urged students on Instagram last Sunday to wear medical masks everyday on campus to "fight repression."
Columbia Jewish Alumni Association criticized the university on X Tuesday for failing to address the masked protest.
Last Friday Columbia announced several actions that it was taking in response to the federal government's demands that it respond to post-October 7 Massacre civil unrest. Besides the requirement for protesting students to identify themselves to security personnel, Columbia promised to improve its disciplinary process with a University Judicial Board. While some students who participated in last April's protest encampments were suspended, expelled, and had their degrees temporarily revoked on March 13, the university assured that disciplinary proceedings against other participants were ongoing. The Columbia Office of Institutional Equity will also announce a sanction policy for student groups engaged in discriminatory conduct, which could result in defunding, suspension, or derecognition.
Columbia clarified last Friday that protests inside facilities like the Hamilton Hall occupation are not acceptable because of the likelihood of disrupting academic activities. Further, Columbia said that it had expanded its public safety personnel with 36 officers.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, which has been at the forefront of the campus protests, last Friday on X decried the expansion of the security team as a "de facto Columbia police force." The SJP chapter also slammed the opening and advancement of the Tel Aviv Global Center, the academic center that has been the flagship of the protest group's desire for the university to institute an anti-Israel academic boycott.
The center's advancement alongside the university's commitment to promote a "balanced and comprehensive curriculum." Columbia said that a senior vice provost would review Middle East studies programs, including the Center for Palestine Studies, the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies; the Middle East Institute, and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) Middle East Policy major. The university also said it would "ensure intellectual diversity" and fairness on Middle East studies in its courses and scholarships with new positions in SIPA, the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, and the departments of Economics, Political Science.
The moves addressed all the items discussed in a March 13 letter to Columbia from the US Education Department, General Services Administration, and the Health and Human Services Department. The letter, obtained by The Jerusalem Post, detailed the necessary compliance for resumption of funding and grants that were cancelled due to the belief that the university "fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment" and other civil rights violations.
Due to the alleged civil rights violations, the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism had also demanded Columbia adopt an antisemitism definition that addressed anti-Zionist discrimination, as well as a strategy for admissions reform. Columbia stated last Friday that it would provide institution-wide Title VI training and would revise its discrimination policies, including incorporating a 2024 Columbia Task Force on Antisemitism working definition. The definition recommended in a task for report described antisemitism as a "prejudice, discrimination, hate, or violence directed at Jews, including Jewish Israelis" that included "targeting Jews or Israelis for violence or celebrating violence against them; exclusion or discrimination based on Jewish identity or ancestry or real or perceived ties to Israel; and certain double standards applied to Israel."
Columbia also committed to have external experts review their admissions practices, and to establish an advisory group to analyze concerns about discrimination amid a downturn trend in both Jewish and African American enrollment.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said last Monday in a joint statement with her HHS and FAS counterparts that Columbia was demonstrating cooperation with President Donald Trump's requirements. FAS Commissioner and Task Force member Josh Gruenbaum said that the first steps were a positive sign, but the university had to continue to show that they were "serious in their resolve to end antisemitism and protect all students and faculty on their campus through permanent and structural reform."
Gruenbaum warned that other universities should expect the same degrees of scrutiny if they didn't protect their students, with Kennedy decrying in the same statement how Ivy league campuses had become a "greenhouse for poison."
“Instead of inspiring universal condemnation, the October 7 holocaust triggered a global wave of antisemitism," said Kennedy. "President Trump has ordered his cabinet to use every constitutional tool to uproot this divisive weed. I’m glad Columbia has agreed to this first step and will begin to restore itself as a garden of tolerance, reason, compassion, and respect.”
Anti-Israel action
Columbia's commitments have resulted in protests from anti-Israel groups and allies, with the Student Worker of Columbia union holding a picket last Monday in response to "repressive policies" and disciplinary actions of students disciplined for anti-Israel activism — including its expelled president Grant Miner. Further protests were held on Thursday, according to SWC.
Over 1600 academics and faculty groups from institutions across the US signed a boycott call against Columbia for its cooperation with the Trump administration with its new regulations, as well as its disciplinary actions against activists and "failure to defend" Columbia University Apartheid Divest leader Mahmoud Khalil and former student Ranjani Srinivasan from deportation action.
"Columbia's actions endanger all students, staff, and faculty," read the boycott letter. "These are concerted attacks on the integrity of higher education and on our ability to conduct research, teach, and learn. These attacks are fueled by anti-Palestinian racism and enabled by the dangerous weaponization of antisemitism."
The boycotters called on Columbia to reverse all the disciplinary actions and compliance with the Trump administration.
