Columbia University's interim president steps down and returns to former post

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong has resigned, returning to her post running the New York school’s medical center.

Armstrong’s return to her former job as CEO of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center comes days after Columbia agreed to a host of policy changes demanded by the Trump administration as a condition of restoring $400 million in government funding.

In a statement published on the Columbia University website Friday, Armstrong said she was proud to have led the university during an “important and challenging time."

“But my heart is with science, and my passion is with healing. That is where I can best serve this University and our community moving forward,” she wrote.

Armstrong had stepped into the role in August after the previous president, Minouche Shafik, resigned following scrutiny of her handling of protests and campus divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.

The university’s trustees appointed the co-chair of their board, Claire Shipman, as acting president while the search for a permanent replacement continues.

Armstrong led the university through some of the most fraught months in its long history.

The move by President Donald Trump's administration to strip the university and its hospital of research funding, on the grounds that it hadn't done enough to combat antisemitism or punish students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year, created what many considered an existential crisis.

The university quickly capitulated, agreeing to a list of administration demands.

Among the new changes, Columbia agreed to review its admissions policies, ban protesters from wearing masks, bar demonstrations from academic buildings and to put its Middle East studies department under the supervision of a new senior provost with a mandate to review its leadership and curriculum.

The school’s acquiescence was condemned by some faculty members and free speech advocates, with Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, saying it “endangers academic freedom and campus expression nationwide.”

U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the university was “on the right track” but has not yet indicated whether funding might be restored, leaving researchers at the school — many from the medical center — in a state of limbo.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has moved to deport several Columbia students who participated in demonstrations as it cracks down on noncitizens involved in pro-Palestinian activism on campuses.

Two of those students, Mahmoud Khalil and Yunseo Chung, are lawful U.S. residents who were involved in demonstrations at the campus and are now fighting in court to stay in the country.

Immigration agents arrested Khalil at his university-owned apartment, and have searched other residences on the school's campus.

The new acting president, Shipman, was a correspondent for ABC News, NBC News and CNN over a long career in journalism, covering the White House and Russia, among other beats. She has written several books on women’s leadership.

Shipman said in a statement she is assuming the 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.”

She added that when a permanent president is chosen, that person will “conduct an appropriate review of the University’s leadership team and structure to ensure we are best positioned for the future."

Whoever accepts the role permanently will have to navigate between the demands of the Trump administration and ongoing protests from students upset about the war in Gaza and emerging restrictions on free speech.