The president of Columbia University has resigned effective immediately just a week after three of her deans resigned over a leaked text message exchange that mocked concerns about anti-Semitism.
Minouche Shafik resisted calls to resign after anti-Israel protests paralyzed New York University earlier this year, but said Wednesday that the “unrest” had taken “a considerable toll on my family.”
Donations began to dry up as wealthy benefactors reacted with disgust to the protests, and Shafik herself was widely criticized after appearing before Congress, where she refused to say whether the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” should be considered anti-Semitic.
But he angered students after calling on New York police to clear the campus of protesters and rejecting their demands to divest university money from Israel.
“It has been distressing for the community, for me as president and on a personal level to find myself, my colleagues and students being subjected to threats and abuse,” she said last night.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik blamed the considerable cost on my family or her decision to resign effective immediately.
The university’s New York campus was one of dozens across the country rocked by anti-Israel protests earlier this year.
The text message exchange occurred during a meeting in May at the Ivy League university in which Jewish students described the anti-Semitism they were experiencing on campus in the wake of Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
The trio have been placed on leave, according to a letter from Shafik and university president Angela Olinto that was sent to members of the school community after the texts surfaced in June.
The three in question are former associate dean for student and family support Matthew Patashnick, vice dean and chief administrative officer Susan Chang-Kim and former dean of undergraduate student life Cristen Kromm.
The meeting was titled Jewish Life on Campus: Past, Present, and Future and took place on May 31.
Text messages that have since been made public include Chang-Kim’s words: “Coming from such a privileged place… it’s hard to hear the ‘poor me’, we have to meet at the Kraft center. Huh?”
Kromm responds, “It’s amazing what money can do,” while discussing an op-ed published in the school’s Columbia Spectator newspaper.
The messages were later published as part of an investigation by the House Education and Workforce Committee.
Columbia College Dean Josef Sorett was also in the text thread, but did not participate as much.
“This incident revealed behavior and sentiments that were not only unprofessional, but also, disturbingly, touched on long-standing anti-Semitic tropes,” Shafik told the school community.
‘Whether intended or not, these sentiments are unacceptable and deeply disturbing, and they convey a lack of seriousness about the concerns and experiences of members of our Jewish community that is antithetical to the values of our University and the standards we must uphold in our community.’
The appearance of the texts sparked fresh outrage on the campus, which has been rocked for months by protests against Israel following its war with Hamas.
Excerpts from text messages sent by the three deans that were released by Congress last week
Egyptian-born Shafik, the first woman to serve as president of Colombia, will return to the UK, where she is a member of the House of Lords.
At the age of 36, she became the youngest vice president in the history of the World Bank. During her work there, she met her first husband, fellow Egyptian Mohamed El-Erian.
In 2002, Shafik married her second husband, scientist Raffael Jovine. The couple has two children and three stepchildren.
Her daughter, Olivia, graduated from Columbia’s School of Urban Planning in 2015.
“I have tried to pursue a path that upholds academic principles and treats everyone with fairness and compassion,” he wrote in his resignation statement Wednesday.
As President Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” – we must do everything we can to resist the forces of polarization in our community.
‘I remain optimistic that differences can be overcome through an honest exchange of views, genuine listening, and always treating one another with dignity and respect.’