Columbia University President Resigns After Months of Student Protests | News

Columbia University President Nemat Shafik has resigned from her post after months of angry student protests against Israel and in support of Gaza, US media reported Thursday.

Shafik stepped down after only one year as university president, which was marked by ongoing anti-Israel protests during which hundreds of students were arrested.

Shafik has faced growing calls to resign for months over her handling of protests that erupted following the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7 and the daily massacres committed by the occupation army against civilians trapped in the Strip.

Shafik was accused of “gross negligence” while testifying before Congress after refusing to say whether the phrase “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” should be considered anti-Semitic.

Critics of Shafik have alleged that she did not adequately suppress campus protests until tent camps took over the Ivy League school's lawn in the weeks leading up to graduation, according to the New York Post.

Hundreds of students were arrested for trespassing for refusing to disperse the sit-in tents, but the demonstrations escalated when a mob took over the Hamilton Hall academic building in April.

Shafik's resignation comes just a week after three university deans from Columbia resigned following the disclosure of a series of text messages described as “deeply disturbing” and accused of “anti-Semitism.”