Umair
Columbia University’s interim president, Katrina Armstrong, stepped down on Friday, one week after the university accepted a roster of demands from the Trump administration.
The university immediately named Claire Shipman, the co-chair of its board of trustees, as its acting president.
The Trump administration moved this month to cancel about $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia, an extraordinary blow to a university that draws roughly a fifth of its annual operating revenues from the federal government.
Last week, in a bid to revive that flow of funding, Columbia agreed to a set of conditions from the Trump administration, including more stringent protest policies, the buildup of a campus security force, and new oversight of the university’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department.
Columbia’s decision was widely condemned as an act of capitulation.
Dr. Armstrong was named Columbia’s interim president in August, after Nemat Shafik, who had been widely criticized for her handling of campus protests and accusations of antisemitism, stepped down. Columbia said Dr. Armstrong would return to her previous role as the head of the university’s medical center.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
