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.