The protests against the war in Gaza are putting enormous pressure on the leadership of U.S. universities. Their task is to bridge the bitter divides on campus while balancing the right to free speech with concerns about campus security.
On Tuesday, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik also resigned due to pressure related to the handling of the protests.
Like many of her counterparts, Shafik faced opposition from many quarters: Some student groups criticized her decision to call in the police to arrest protesters. Republicans in Congress and others called on her to do more to combat anti-Semitism. And the university’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences passed a vote of no confidence in her.
Here’s a look at other college leaders who have resigned or faced tough questioning.
University of Pennsylvania
Liz Magill of Pennsylvania State University was the first of three Ivy League presidents to resign after controversial appearances before Congress, ahead of Claudine Gay of Harvard and Shafik of Columbia University.
Magill resigned in December after less than two years in office, facing pressure from donors and criticism for testifying at a congressional hearing that she could not say under repeated questioning that calls for genocide against Jews on campus violated the university’s code of conduct.
Magill has faced criticism from the White House, Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and members of Congress. Lawyers for a major Penn donor, Ross Stevens, threatened to withdraw a $100 million donation because of the university’s “stance on anti-Semitism on campus” if Magill is not replaced.
Harvard University
Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first black president, was similarly criticized for giving lawyerly answers at the same hearing before a U.S. House committee on anti-Semitism on campus. Gay apologized and told the student newspaper that she had failed to adequately condemn threats of violence against Jewish students.
Gay resigned in January, announcing her departure just months after taking office.
Following the congressional hearing, Gay’s academic career came under intense scrutiny from conservative activists, who brought to lithe several cases of alleged plagiarism in her 1997 doctoral thesis. Gay said in her resignation letter that it was disturbing that her commitment to fighting hate was being questioned and frightening to be “subject to personal attacks and threats fueled by racist allegations.”
Columbia University
In her resignation letter, Shafik complained that during her tenure “it had been difficult to overcome differing views in our community.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters first set up tent camps on the Columbia University campus during Shafik’s testimony before Congress in mid-April. At the time, she condemned anti-Semitism but was criticized for her response to allegations of bias against faculty and students.
Although she survived the tumult that followed, she decided to resign that summer. “This period has placed a great strain on my family, as well as others in the community,” she wrote.
Her announcement came just days after the university confirmed the resignations of three deans who officials said exchanged derogatory text messages during a campus discussion about Jewish life and anti-Semitism.
Others who were on the balmy seat
Many other administrators have had to endure calls for their resignations from members of Congress and parts of their university communities.
President Sally Kornbluth of MIT, for example, was questioned at the same hearing as Magill and Gay, but did not face the same pressure to resign. She said at the hearing that comments directed at individuals, not public statements, would be considered a violation of bullying and harassment policies. The chair of the MIT Corporation signaled his support for Kornbluth, who is Jewish.
Others, including University of Massachusetts Chancellor Javier Reyes, have faced harsh criticism from faculty members for calling police to break up peaceful protesters when they refused to leave. Reyes defended using police as a last resort.
Even university administrators who had made agreements with students to resolve demonstrations had to face the wrath of members of Congress. At a hearing last May, Northwestern President Michael Schill and Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway told lawmakers that they had defused the danger without giving the protesters any space.
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