Columbia University’s interim president has stepped down, the latest leadership shakeup at the Ivy League school, which has been aggressively targeted by the Trump administration over pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
Katrina Armstrong is being replaced by Claire Shipman, co-chair of its board of trustees, who is stepping up as acting president effective immediately, the university said on Friday evening. Shipman is the university’s third president since August, when Minouche Shafik resigned amid intense scrutiny of her handling of demonstrations.
Armstrong’s abrupt departure comes just one week after the university gave in to pressure from the Trump administration after it pulled $400m in federal funding. The president and other critics have accused Columbia of failing to prevent antisemitism on campus, saying the institution did not do enough to clamp down on protests, even though the university last year facilitated arrests of demonstrators and suspended pro-Palestinian student groups.
The university released a memo outlining its agreement with the Trump administration hours before an extended deadline set by the government was to expire. The memo laid out measures including banning facemasks on campus, empowering security officers to remove or arrest individuals, and taking control of the department that offers courses on the Middle East from its faculty.
Among the most contentious of the nine demands, Columbia agreed to place its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department under a new official, the memo said. The new senior vice-provost will review the school’s programs to ensure the “offerings are comprehensive and balanced”.
The demand raised alarm among professors at Columbia and elsewhere, who worried that permitting the federal government to dictate how a department is run would set a dangerous precedent. Rights advocates called it an assault on free speech.
Armstrong will remain at Columbia, returning to lead the university’s Irving Medical Center. Shipman will serve as acting president while the board completes its search for a permanent replacement, the university said.
Shipman has served as co-chair of the board of trustees since 2023 and has been a board member since 2013. A journalist and author, she holds two degrees from Columbia.
“I assume this 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,” Shipman said in a statement.
News of Armstrong stepping down came amid reports in the Harvard Crimson student newspaper and the New York Times that two leaders of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies would be stepping down. The papers cited faculty with knowledge of the matter, and the university has not commented on the reports. Like Columbia, Harvard has been facing pressure from the Trump administration and others amid claims it has failed to address antisemitism.
The Trump administration this week has also been escalating efforts to deport students from campuses across the country who are on visas or are green-card holders and were connected to pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Reuters contributed to this report
