Netizens ask Columbia University prez to resign after her message to students: ‘Your term has been an abject failure’

BySumanti Sen
May 04, 2024

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik has broken her silence following the NYPD raids on the campus, and her message has sparked outrage

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik has broken her silence following the NYPD raids on the campus, telling students in a video message that the past two weeks’ events were “among the most difficult in Columbia’s history.” “The turmoil and tension, division and disruption have impacted the entire community,” she said. “You are students who paid an exceptionally high price.”

Netizens ask Columbia University prez Minouche Shafik to resign (@Columbia/X)

Shafik said although the authorities tried to solve the problem through dialogue, the students refused to comply, prompting them to seek NYPD’s help. Noting that protesters “crossed a new line” by occupying Hamilton Hall, she said, “It was a violent act that put our students at risk as well as putting the protesters at risk.”

‘The students of Columbia deserve better leadership’

Shafik’s message has sparked outrage, with many X users flocking to the comment section of the video, asking her to resign. “You have made campus considerably less safe for Palestinian and Jewish students who are anti-Zionist. Shame on you,” one user wrote. One user said, “Here’s an even better message. Resign,” while another wrote, “Empty words for an institution that has fueled the fire of antisemitism for years. Shame on you for allowing this to happen. Columbia will never recover from this as long as you are the President. Resign and let people who are truly committed to doing the hard work clean up this mess you created.” “Too little too late. You let things on your campus become very unsafe and acted only when things got ridiculously out of hand. The students of Columbia deserve better leadership than what you have demonstrated,” wrote one.

“Your term has been an abject failure. Want to see a university responding well right now? Look at UT Austin. Ole Miss. Not Columbia, which now stands as one of the flagships for academic failure in the nation. Way to go. Enough with the toxic empathy, expel them. Resign. Move on,” one user said, while another wrote, “Patronising, robotic and devoid of any understanding”. “This gives me anxiety. It feels disconnected from reality and the state of the situation,” one said. Another wrote, “You have presided over unprecedented chaos, unbridled anti-Semitism and unencumbered woke insanity. If you had any integrity you would resign.”