The president of the prestigious Columbia University in the U.S. East has been replaced again. The president resigned due to the handling of anti-Israel protests that swept through American colleges last year, and the university was operating under an interim president. However, on the night of the 28th (local time), just a week after the Trump administration canceled approximately $400 million in federal subsidies, interim president Katrina Armstrong resigned. Consequently, Claire Shipman, who was co-chair of the board, will serve as acting president.
According to major foreign media outlets such as The New York Times (NYT), Columbia University announced in a statement that "Katrina Armstrong, who served as interim president and dedicated herself to the community's interests amid uncertainties facing the university, has stepped down from the interim presidency." Armstrong took on the interim role after her predecessor, former president Nikole Shapiro, resigned in August last year following controversy over calling the police to respond strongly to campus protests.
The resignation of interim president Armstrong occurred at a time when there is a controversy over whether the university should negotiate to align with the government's preferences, following the Trump administration's reduction of federal subsidies, citing that the university failed to adequately respond to anti-Israel protests. The Trump administration threatened to cut billions of dollars in funding given to colleges nationwide, and, in fact, canceled $400 million in federal subsidies to Columbia University. This amount corresponds to about one-fifth of Columbia University's operational revenue.
The Trump administration stated that Columbia University would consider resuming subsidies only if it agreed to the government's demands. In response, interim president Armstrong expressed her willingness to agree to the government's demands. Accordingly, the university decided to hire special police with arrest powers on campus and to appoint a vice president to oversee the Middle Eastern studies program.
A graduate student from Columbia University's engineering school told the NYT, "The resignation of interim president Armstrong, the negotiations regarding subsidies, and the arrest of a student leading anti-Israel protests seem to indicate that Columbia University is capitulating to the demands of the U.S. government instead of adhering to the beliefs and values it promised."