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Columbia interim president steps down 1 week after bowing to Trump demands
By
Louis C. Hochman
Published Mar 28, 2025
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Victor J. Blue for The Washington Post via Getty Images
By
Louis C. Hochman
Published Mar 28, 2025
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The interim president of Columbia University is stepping down a week after acquiescing to the Trump administration over several of its demands to curb what federal officials called "relentless violence, intimidation and antisemitic harassment" on campus.
Katrina Armstrong said in a letter late Friday she would return to previous roles she'd held with the university "as I planned when I took on this interim position, and with the support of the Board of Trustees." The board's co-chair, television journalist Claire Shipman, has been appointed acting president during an ongoing search for a permanent leader.
Armstrong became interim president of the school in August of last year after the resignation of President Minouche Shafik amid criticism of the university's handling of campus protests of Israel's war in Gaza. More than 100 people were arrested in connection with a protest last spring at Columbia's Morningside Heights campus. The school responded to the protests by moving classes online, banning speakers and restricting access to the campus.
But Trump administration officials alleged the school had allowed antisemitism to fester and threaten Jewish students.
After federal officials said they would pull $400 million in federal funding — and sent the school a detailed list of demands to get the funds restored — Armstrong said late last week Columbia would ban most masks on campus, give dozens of campus police officers power to make arrests and conduct a “thorough review” of Middle East studies.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce last month also demanded that Columbia University turn over disciplinary records related to 11 different campus incidents, prompting a lawsuit from students, including one facing deportation proceedings. The students alleged Columbia and the committee were looking to “chill the protected speech” of students.
Armstrong's letter to the community made no direct mention of the policy changes or the handling of the protests, saying only that she appreciated the opportunity "to play a small part in navigating this vast enterprise through some of the most difficult moments in its history."
Armstrong "accepted the role of interim president at a time of great uncertainty for the university and worked tirelessly to promote the interests of our community,” David J. Greenwald, chair of Columbia's Board of Trustees, said in a statement from the school.
Armstrong will return to her positions as CEO of the school's Irving Medical Center, executive vice president for health and biomedical sciences and dean of the faculties of health sciences and medicine and the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Samantha Max and Stephen Rex Brown contributed reporting.
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Louis C. Hochman
After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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