Columbia University President Resigns Due to Trump's Pressure on American Universities

Columbia University's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, has abruptly resigned and returned to her position as the director of New York University Medical Center.

Armstrong's sudden resignation and return to her former job come days after the university faced a series of policy changes.

The US government had made these changes a condition for restoring $400 million in government funding to the university.

Armstrong took office in August 2024 after the resignation of former Columbia University president Minouche Shafik; Minouche Shafik’s resignation comes as Columbia University has seen widespread protests in support of Palestine and condemnation of the Israeli regime since the start of the Gaza war.

Minouche Shafik was the third Ivy League president to resign in connection with the protests over the Gaza war.

Among the new changes, Columbia agreed to review its admissions policies, ban protesters from wearing masks, ban demonstrations from campus buildings and place its Middle East Studies department under a new senior professor with a mandate to review its administration and curriculum.

The U.S. government has increasingly targeted students at its universities for detention and expulsion, including those with visas and permanent residency.

On March 8, 2025, Mahmoud Khalil, a prominent figure in the pro-Palestinian protests that rocked Columbia University’s campus last year, was arrested and transferred to a notorious Louisiana prison in an attempt to deport him.

On March 7, US President Donald Trump announced that he was canceling $400 million in federal funding and contracts for Columbia University.

The US government claimed that Jewish students at the university had faced “unrelenting anti-Semitic violence, intimidation, and harassment” on its campuses, and that universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they want to receive fund