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Columbia gets another leader, but will anything change?
Opinions differ about the university’s new president
April 4, 2025 16:56
Opinions differ about the university’s new president
April 4, 2025 16:56Sometimes the week’s biggest news only drops after the work-week ends. For example, Columbia University now has its third president in seven months.
On Friday night, Columbia announced that interim president Katrina Armstrong had stepped down and Board of Trustees co-chair Claire Shipman would be acting president until the next university president is hired. Considering Columbia’s failure to adequately address rampant campus antisemitism for nearly 18 months, though, Shipman should expect no honeymoon period. And Shipman’s locking of her X account shows she may understand that.
Fortunately for Shipman, some Columbia Jews have already expressed support and a willingness to work together. The Columbia Jewish Alumni Association told me, “Every new leader deserves a chance, and we all want Columbia to succeed in turning things around. We thank President Shipman for stepping into this role and look forward to supporting her in leading the university though this incredibly challenging time.”
Columbia Faculty and Staff Supporting Israel posted on X, “We wish the best of luck to Acting President @ClaireShipman and look forward to having new leadership that will rebuild the university and will refocus on research and education.” And Documenting Jew Hatred on Campus at Columbia U posted, “We are here to help @ClaireShipman. We look forward to your leadership.”
Elisha Baker, Columbia College junior and co-chair of pro-Israel student group Columbia Aryeh, told me, “I am focused primarily on deep structural and cultural changes at Columbia that I believe are necessary to restore our campus to its primary mission of teaching, learning, and research . . . Regardless of who sits in the Office of the President, I look forward to continuing to work for these positive changes, for the sake of Jewish students and all students.”
Shipman should welcome those olive branches, especially as she also faces numerous sceptics and critics. On Saturday, three House members posted a New York Post article on X about Shipman’s having called the House Committee on Education and Workforce’s December 2023 campus antisemitism hearing “capital hill [sic] nonsense” and recommended “unsuspending” Columbia’s disruptive, anti-Israel campus groups (while Shipman “publicly called antisemitism ‘dangerous and reprehensible,’” Gerard Filitti, Senior Counsel at The Lawfare Project, recalled.)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), former Education and Workforce Chairwoman, commented, “Her tenure as Columbia’s president will be short-lived.” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wrote, “This is a slap in the face to every Jewish student on your campus. Resign now.” And Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) called Shipman “Another untenable @Columbia President,” and said of the university, “They still don’t get it.”
Columbia definitely isn’t pivoting with Shipman’s appointment. Kenneth Marcus, founder, chairman, and CEO of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told me that Shipman has “said some things that give pause. What Columbia needs is leadership with sufficient moral clarity to make the major changes that are required – not just a compromiser who tries to placate all sides while satisfying none.” Marcus added, “Recent reports suggest Columbia officials and faculty are not taking seriously enough the commitments that they have made. This is concerning.”
The Lawfare Project’s Filitti shared a similar view: “Once again, Columbia seems to have settled on a President …who says vastly different — and incongruous — things to different audiences. This immediately brings into question her willingness to show the moral (and legal) clarity needed to de-radicalise Columbia. Ultimately, this is a question that she could have answered in the first three days of her appointment by clearly and unequivocally accepting, and implementing, all nine of the government’s prerequisites [to address Jew-hatred]. But she did not do so.”
How much does it matter then who leads Columbia? Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Centre, told me, “Columbia can keep changing presidents, but it won't do any good until they change their policies. They need to 1) follow the law and enforce consequences, 2) publicly state that they will follow the law and enforce consequences, and 3) not immediately go and privately tell others that they do not really intend to do either.”
In a message to Columbia’s community on Monday, Shipman pledged to “continue to build on the significant progress we’ve made, and the plan outlined to move our community forward.” Given Shipman’s centrality to Columbia’s ongoing antisemitism problem, though, it’s unclear what that actually means.
Columbia’s interested Jews can absolutely continue working for change from within. However, outsiders shouldn’t modify their message: Keep federal pressure on Columbia.