Columbia College’s interim president steps down

Columbia College stated Friday its interim president, Katrina A. Armstrong, is stepping apart, every week after the college struck a cope with the Trump administration to barter its federal funding.

Armstrong assumed the function when President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik resigned in August after a tumultuous spring semester that noticed protests on campus over the conflict in Gaza.

She is going to return to the varsity’s Irving Medical Heart, the college introduced in a press release Friday.

Claire Shipman, the co-chair of the board of trustees, will assume the function of performing president, efficient instantly, whereas a search is carried out for a brand new president, the assertion stated. The information was first reported by The Wall Avenue Journal.

“Dr. Armstrong accepted the function of interim president at a time of nice uncertainty for the College and labored tirelessly to advertise the pursuits of our group,” stated David Greenwald, chair of the board of trustees. “Katrina has at all times given her coronary heart and soul to Columbia. We admire her service and sit up for her continued contributions to the College.”

In a press release, Armstrong stated her return to the medical middle was deliberate, and stated she was proud to have labored with the establishment, which she known as a “particular place.”

“It has been a singular honor to guide Columbia College on this essential and difficult time,” Armstrong stated. “However my coronary heart is with science, and my ardour is with therapeutic. That’s the place I can greatest serve this College and our group shifting ahead.”

The college final week agreed to a listing of calls for by the Trump administration to start out negotiations to revive $400 million in federal funding. The funding was pulled earlier this month after the administration accused the New York faculty of “inaction within the face of persistent harassment of Jewish college students.”

Columbia was a sizzling spot of pupil protests final spring over Israel’s conflict in Gaza, which was launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror assault in Israel. That assault claimed the lives of about 1,200 folks and noticed about 250 taken hostage within the enclave, Israeli officers have stated.

Greater than 50,000 folks in Gaza have been killed, based on the Palestinian Ministry of Well being within the enclave.

College students at Columbia protested the college’s involvement with Israel, calling on the varsity to divest from the Center Jap nation and organising a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus. A gaggle of scholars finally occupied a constructing on campus, Hamilton Corridor, prompting the New York Police Division to be known as.

College students confronted expulsion, self-discipline and arrests over their refusal to close down the encampment and adjust to Columbia’s calls for.

Earlier this month, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate pupil who helped lead final spring’s protests, was arrested by federal immigration brokers. The federal government has stated his arrest was over his alleged assist for Hamas, a delegated terrorist group

Khalil, who was instructed his pupil visa was being revoked on the night time of his arrest, is being held in federal custody in Louisiana.

A choose has dominated Khalil is to stay in the USA “to protect the court docket’s jurisdiction” because the court docket weighs a submitting difficult his arrest and deliberate deportation.

Khalil and 7 different Columbia college students additionally sued the varsity and the Home Schooling and Workforce Committee this month to dam Columbia from handing over to the federal government disciplinary information of scholars who have been concerned in protests on campus.

Since Khalil’s arrest, quite a few different worldwide faculty college students have been taken into federal immigration custody because the Trump administration cracks down on deportations.