With Katrina A. Armstrong stepping aside, Columbia University will have its third president since the October 7th attacks. Third time’s a charm? Not really, because the new acting president, Claire Shipman, will only be in office until the board of trustees hires a new one.
What an absolute clown show.
From Columbia’s Office of Public Affairs:
Shipman Named Acting PresidentColumbia’s Board of Trustees announced today that Interim President Katrina A. Armstrong is returning to lead the University’s Irving Medical Center. Board of Trustees Co-Chair Claire Shipman has been appointed Acting President, effective immediately, and will serve until the Board completes its presidential search.“Dr. Armstrong accepted the role of interim president at a time of great uncertainty for the University and worked tirelessly to promote the interests of our community,” said David J. Greenwald, Chair of the Board of Trustees. “Katrina has always given her heart and soul to Columbia. We appreciate her service and look forward to her continued contributions to the University,” he added.Acting President Claire Shipman said, “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. Columbia’s new permanent president, when that individual is selected, will conduct an appropriate review of the University’s leadership team and structure to ensure we are best positioned for the future.”
One of the likely reasons Armstrong is stepping down is that she was caught on audio last week telling a group of professors that the school was not actually making the changes that the Trump administration has demanded.
The Washington Free Beacon reported:
What Columbia University President Katrina Armstrong Really Told Faculty Members About Changes the School Is MakingNothing to see here.That’s what Columbia University president Katrina Armstrong told approximately 75 faculty members who assembled on a Saturday morning Zoom call to hear from her about a letter sent by the school to the Trump administration on Friday outlining a series of steps Columbia says it is taking to address “legitimate concerns raised both from within and without our Columbia community, including by our regulators” about the eruption of anti-Semitism on campus in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks.Throughout the conversation, which lasted approximately 75 minutes and included Columbia provost Angela Olinto and general counsel Felice Rosan, Armstrong and Olinto downplayed or denied that change was underway, particularly when it came to meeting the Trump administration’s demand to put the school’s Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership.”This is not a receivership,” Olinto told the group. “The provost will not be writing or controlling anything. It’s the faculty,” she continued, adding, “Your department is totally independent.”Columbia’s Middle East Studies department has been a flashpoint in the disputes that have roiled the university since Oct. 7, with critics citing its faculty members as a leading source of anti-Semitism. One of them, Joseph Massad, described the Hamas massacre as “awesome.”Armstrong went on to say the school had made “no changes” to rules surrounding the sorts of masked protests that plagued the university last year, though Friday’s letter announced that masks are no longer allowed “for the purpose of concealing one’s identity in the commission of violations of University policies or state, municipal, or federal laws.”
In addition to all of this, a student who was expelled from the school over his antisemitic activism was recently seen on campus leading another protest.
The rot here is so deep. It’s difficult to see how Columbia could be saved.
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