As pro-Palestinian demonstrations continue at Columbia University, Chancellor Minouche Shafik finds herself in the crosshairs of politicians, students and professors, who are calling for her resignation over her handling of the protests. The pressure rose this Friday, April 26, after the institution's Senate, the university's advisory body, approved a resolution stating that Shafik's decisions had undermined academic freedom and ignored privacy and due process rights. of students and teachers.
Shortly after the war between Israel and Hamas entered its sixth month, pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University (USA) established an area on campus, with about 50 tents, called the Gaza Solidarity Camp, to pressure the prestigious Ivy League university to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and divest from related projects in Israel.
The camp was forcibly dismantled the next day, when Shafik requested the intervention of the New York Police Department,which led to the arrest of more than 100 protesters for the alleged crime of housebreaking. Columbia also suspended students participating in the camp. Following these mass arrests, protesters quickly regrouped and other students across the United States began organizing their own sit-ins, including at universities in Los Angeles, Boston, and Austin, Texas.
Shafik's decision to call the police forces angered several politicians, including Democratic Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who said on climber, reckless and dangerous.”
“It represents an egregious failure of leadership that puts people's lives at risk,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Comparisons have also been made between Shafik and former Columbia president Grayson Kirk, who in 1968 sent 1,000 riot police against students protesting the Vietnam War.
“Columbia has its own traditions and memories regarding the presence of police on campus,” James Finkelstein, professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University, told CNN. “It has a historically activist faculty and student body.”
Shafik's decision to call the NYPD “seems very insensitive to the history of the institution,” Finklestein added.
Although Columbia's Board of Trustees continues to support Shafik, saying it “strongly supports” her as she “leads the university through these extraordinarily difficult times,” the board has been criticized on all fronts.
Additionally, Shafik came under fresh pressure on Friday, when a university oversight panel sharply criticized his administration for clamping down on the pro-Palestinian protest, saying the decision was “contrary to the norms and traditions” of the institution.
“The decision has raised serious concerns about the administration's respect for shared governance and transparency in the university decision-making process,” the resolution states.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, He called for Shafik to resign if he fails to “immediately bring order to this chaos,” he said during a news conference in Columbia on Wednesday.
Many Columbia students also want Shafik to resign.
“I can't think of anyone who is in favor of Minouche Shafik right now,” Jared Kennel, a student who joined the demonstration as a member of Columbia University's Jews for Ceasefire society, told the Washington Post. campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
“There are many students who want him to resign, on both sides, for different reasons.”
Christopher Brown, a history professor at Columbia, echoed Kennel's sentiments.
“He has lost the privilege of leading one of the world's great research universities by not defending it,” he said.
Three actions Columbia President Shafik must take RIGHT NOW:
1. Order law enforcement to clear out the illegal encampment of antisemitic protesters
2. Expel the students involved
3. Terminate the Columbia faculty involvedThe time for talking is over.
— House Committee on Education & the Workforce (@EdWorkforceCmte) April 22, 2024
But, on the other hand, the president of the university has received Israeli pressure.
At least two prominent donors have suspended funding to the university until they deem it has taken appropriate steps to prevent anti-Semitism on campus.
And the Republican-led House Education and Labor Committee posted on Columbia faculty involved.
The “perfect candidate”
Called the “perfect candidate” for Columbia's Chairman of the Board of Trustees when her appointment as the university's 20th president was announced in July 2023, Shafik, 61, She was the first woman to assume the prestigious position.
Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Shafik and her family left the country when she was just four years old, during the political and economic turmoil of the mid-1960s. They quickly settled in Georgia, in the southern United States, before move to Miami and North Carolina.
Shafik graduated in Economics and Politics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1983. He subsequently obtained a Master of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics in 1986 and later a PhD in Economic Philosophy from the University of Oxford in 1989.
After finishing his studiesShafik began her professional career at the World Bank, where she rose to become the youngest vice president in history. He also worked at the International Monetary Fund, where he had to deal with both the European debt crisis and the Arab Spring. During his time at the Bank of England, he was responsible for contingency planning around the Brexit referendum and fighting misconduct in financial markets. Before becoming president of Columbia, she was president and vice chancellor of the London School of Economics.
Rather than an obstacle, her financial training proved to be an advantage in determining her future role as chancellor of Columbia. Before her appointment—she was chosen from among 600 candidates—Columbia Board of Trustees Chairman Jonathan Lavine described her as a leader who understood “the academy and the world beyond it.”
“What sets Minouche apart as a candidate,” Lavine said in a statement, “is her unwavering confidence in the vital role that institutions of higher learning can and should play in solving the world's most complex problems.”
Resignation requests
However, these supposed leadership qualities and her aptitude for addressing international issues do not appear to be helping her navigate the current Columbia crisis. Shafik was unable to testify in December as part of the US House of Representatives investigation about anti-Semitism at major universities due to a scheduling conflict, according to university spokesperson Samantha Slater. Shortly thereafter, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard, who strongly defended the importance of allowing free speech on college campuses during their appearances before Congress, resigned from their positions in December and January respectively.
Following her appearance in Congress on April 17, the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued a vote of no confidence against her. Although the AAUP has not called for her resignation, it does accuse Shafik of failing to respect students' rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Calls for Shafik to resign, despite her condemnation of anti-Semitism during the hearing, have gained support across party lines.
Read alsoThe war in Gaza shakes up university campuses in the United States
Republicans in New York's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter Monday urging Shafik to resign, stating that he was failing to ensure a safe learning environment as “lawlessness has taken over the campus.” John Fetterman, a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, echoed these sentiments on Monday, comparing the protests in Columbia to the 2017 far-right rallies in Charlottesville.
Amid rising tensions on campus, Shafik said Monday that classes would be held remotely in an attempt to “de-escalate the bad blood.” Shafik's office also issued a statement late Thursday night saying he would abandon a midnight deadline to dismantle the camp of about 200 students.
ARRESTS HAVE BEGUN. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HAS BEEN ARRESTING THE STUDENTS IN THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT. SHAME ON COLUMBIA AND MINOUCHE SHAFIK. HISTORY WILL REMEMBER YOU ON THE SIDE OF GENOCIDE!!!! pic.twitter.com/3yiKIpO5nZ
— sebas 🇵🇸🇸🇩🇨🇩🇵🇬 (@cybersebb) April 18, 2024
“Talks have progressed and continue as planned,” the statement said. “We have our demands; they have theirs.”
The statement also denied that the NYPD had been invited to campus to forcibly dismantle the sit-in protest.
“This rumor is false,” the statement states.
Read alsoWhat we know about the anti-war protests in Gaza taking over US universities.
Adapted from its English original
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