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 leading the university’s affiliated hospital 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.
“As I planned when I took on this interim position, and with the support of the Board of Trustees, I am returning to my role as Chief Executive Officer of Columbia University’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,” Armstrong wrote in a statement published on the Columbia University website Friday.
Amstrong had stepped into the role 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.