Columbia President Minouche Shafik is facing criticism from all directions

Columbia President Minouche Shafik is facing criticism from all directions

When Minouche Shafik was announced as president of Columbia University last year, she was called the “perfect candidate” by the chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees.

Now, some of his own students and professors, as well as the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, are calling for his resignation.

Just over nine months into his tenure, Shafik – an Egyptian-born economist and former top official at the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Bank of England, and former president of the London School of Economics – is under pressure for his handling of the Columbia campus protests over the war. between Israel and Hamas.

College administrators have come under intense scrutiny following the Israel-Hamas war. University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and Harvard University President Claudine Gay both resigned following pressure over their response to antisemitism on campus. At Columbia, some students, faculty and left-leaning lawmakers were outraged that Shafik allowed the New York Police Department to shut down student protests on campus that had urged the university to sever its economic and academic ties to Israel. They say the crackdown on student protests, which has resulted in more than 100 arrests, violates academic freedom. At the same time, students, religious groups and right-wing lawmakers say the administration has failed to stop antisemitism inside Columbia’s campus and at protests outside its doors.

“Calling police enforcement on a young student’s nonviolent demonstration on campus is rash, reckless and dangerous,” Rep. Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez posted on X Tuesday. “It represents a brutal failure of leadership that put people’s lives at risk. I cursed him as hard as I could.”

Republican House Speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, called for Shafik’s resignation during a tense press conference on Wednesday in Columbia. “I am here today, joining my colleagues and calling on President Shafik to resign if he cannot quickly bring about this chaos,” Johnson said.

“This is a very difficult situation for a university president, especially someone who hasn’t been tested over time,” said James Finkelstein, professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University who studies the selection and hiring of university presidents.

“He’s at serious risk of being able to survive in these conditions,” Finkelstein added. “The chances of him keeping his job are at best 50-50.”

Columbia’s Board of Trustees stood by Shafik, saying it was “strongly supportive” of Shafik as he “leads the university through this very challenging time.”

“During the search process for this role, President Shafik told us that he will always take a thoughtful approach to conflict resolution, balancing the diverse voices that make up a vibrant campus like Columbia, while taking a firm stand against hate, harassment and discrimination. ,” the board said in a statement today. “That’s what he’s doing now.”

Comparison with Vietnam campus protests
Shafik has now drawn comparisons to former Columbia president Grayson Kirk, who in 1968 called in 1,000 police officers in riot gear to quell students protesting the Vietnam War, Columbia’s role in military research and its ties to the Harlem community.

Kirk resigned later that year.

Last week, Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to sweep the “Gaza Solidarity Camp” on the Columbia campus. Police arrested more than 100 people on suspicion of criminal trespassing, and Columbia suspended students who joined the protest camp.

“Columbia itself has its own tradition and memories of bringing police to campus,” Finkelstein said. “You have an activist faculty and student body.”

Shafik’s decision to authorize the NYPD to arrest protesters “shows me to be very insensitive to the history of the institution,” he said.

Several Columbia faculty members have denounced Shafik’s decision to authorize the NYPD to remove protesters from campus and demanded that all legal and disciplinary charges be dismissed and expunged from student records. Faculty voted to pass a symbolic measure condemning Shafik for his decision to authorize the NYPD, which they said was an “unprecedented attack on student rights.”

Response to antisemitism
Shafik has denounced antisemitism, urged students to report incidents of discrimination and said hate speech and acts against Jews would be investigated by the university since the Hamas attack on as civilians in Israel on October 7.

On November 1, he announced the establishment of a university task force on antisemitism.

During congressional testimony last week, Shafik said students and faculty have been disciplined for antisemitism and that more work is needed to combat antisemitism.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather on the Columbia University campus in New York City on April 23, 2024. Tensions flared between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators at several US universities on April 22, when face-to-face classes were canceled and protesters were arrested.

However, Shafik and the university administration were criticized for their response to antisemitism and Islamophobia as well.

Last fall, a Columbia student who hung a poster on campus in support of Israel was attacked. The university also faced criticism for hiring a professor who allegedly expressed support for Hamas on social media following the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel. The professor has been fired, Shafik said last Wednesday.

The Department of Education is investigating Columbia, UPenn, Harvard and four other schools after complaints about alleged incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia. At the end of the investigation, the Department of Education will make a recommendation to the school. Schools risk losing federal funding if they don’t comply.

Several Jewish students have described being verbally and physically harassed on campus, and there have been off-campus incidents of Columbia antisemitism.

The Hillel Columbia group has called on the university to do more to protect students and ensure students can walk around campus without fear of harassment.

Several major donors, Republican lawmakers and a handful of Democratic lawmakers have said the incident shows Shafik’s response to antisemitism is lacking and called for his resignation.

“I am no longer confident that Columbia can protect its students and staff, and I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken,” said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who graduated from Columbia and has donated millions of dollars to the university. , said Monday. “It is my hope that Columbia and its leadership will stand up to this hatred by ending these protests immediately.”