Columbia University Interim President Resigns After Policy Changes
The interim president of Columbia University is stepping down, the school announced Friday, a week after announcing sweeping policy changes – seemingly bowing to the Trump administration’s demands conditioned on federal funding.
Katrina Armstrong took the helm of one of the nation’s elite universities under pressure last year for its policies and handling of campus protests, which only increased under the Trump administration. She was named interim president in August on the same day former president Minouche Shafik, facing scrutiny for her handling of Columbia campus encampments protesting the war between Israel and Hamas, stepped down.
Columbia University recently announced a series of new policies, making apparent concessions following President Donald Trump’s revocation of $400 million in federal funding over campus protests. They include new restrictions on demonstrations, sanctions on student groups in violation, giving campus police new arrest powers and the provost more authority to deal with disciplinary procedures, immediately reviewing its Middle East curriculum, among others.