Columbia University said on Friday that interim president Katrina A. Armstrong was on the sidelines a week after the university signed a contract with the Trump administration to negotiate federal funds.
Armstrong took on the role when Nemat’s “Minouche” Shafik resigned in August after a turbulent spring semester that saw protests on campus during the war in Gaza.
She will return to the school’s Irving Medical Center, the university announced in a statement Friday.
Council co-chair Claire Shipman has immediately assumed the role of the president and while a search for a new president is underway, the statement will soon be enacted, the statement said. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“Dr. Armstrong embraced the role of the interim president during a period of great uncertainty for the university and made tireless efforts to promote the interests of our community.” “Katrina has always given her heart and soul to Colombia. We are grateful for her service and look forward to her continued contributions to the university.”
In a statement, Armstrong said that a return to the medical center is planned and that she is proud to work with the agency she called “a special place.”
“It was a singular honor to lead Columbia University during this important and challenging time,” Armstrong said. “But my mind is in science and my passion is for healing. So I can do my best to this university and our community.”
The school last week agreed to a list of requests by the Trump administration to begin negotiations to restore federal funds. The funding was drawn earlier this month after the administration accused New York schools of “inaction in the face of permanent harassment of Jewish students.”
Colombia was a hot spot for student protests over Israeli war in Gaza last spring, launched on October 7, 2023 in response to a terrorist attack in Israel. The attack claimed about 1,200 lives and saw about 250 people being held hostages in the enclave, Israeli officials said.
More than 50,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry of Enclave.
Colombian students protest the university’s involvement in Israel, urging schools to sell from a Middle Eastern country, and calling for pro-Palestinian encampments to be established on campus. A group of students eventually occupied the Hamilton Hall building on campus and urged them to be called to the New York Police Department.
Students faced expulsion, discipline and arrest for refusing to close the camp and refusing to comply with Colombian demands.
Earlier this month, Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian graduate student who led the protests last spring, was arrested by federal immigration agents. The government said his arrests were said over his suspicious support for Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation.
Halil, who was said to have been revoked on the night of his arrest, is now in federal custody in Louisiana.
The judge ruled that Halil would remain in the United States “to maintain jurisdiction of the court” as the court considers filing challenges his arrest and planned deportation.
Khalil and seven other Colombian students also sued the Schools and the House Education and Workforce Committee this month to stop Colombia from handing over to government disciplinary records of students involved in the protests on campus.
Since Halil’s arrest, many other international university students have been taken to federal immigration custody as the Trump administration cracks down on deportation.
