Just after 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Columbia University President Nemat Shafiq walked out of an office building on Capitol Hill and got into a waiting black SUV idling.
She had just been grilled by a congressional committee investigating anti-Semitism at elite colleges. At this moment, a new challenge is quickly emerging on her own turf, as pro-Palestinian protesting students have set up camp on the lawns of Columbia’s campus.
As a university trying to reassure Congress that it can control the situation on campus, the timing couldn’t be worse. Needing to act quickly, Shafiq sent her driver to a law firm near the White House, where a temporary command center was set up.
In the frantic 24 hours that followed, a variety of unknown deliberations plunged Columbia into a free speech and safety crisis not seen on a college campus since 1968. The incidents are also triggering a ripple effect at colleges and universities across the country as an extraordinarily grueling school year comes to a close.
To deal with the protests and protect Jewish students, Shafiq theoretically has many options available. Yet at the time, she felt she had few options, according to three people familiar with the private discussions. Her testimony suggested that she was going to deal with the protesters harshly.
Despite attempts to negotiate with students and opposition from key campus leaders, Shafiq issued the order, a decision she later admitted was an “unusual move.” She suspended students and ordered New York City police officers in riot gear to arrest more than 100 activists who refused to leave Thursday afternoon.
However, Shafiq’s decision not only failed to quell the protests, it seemed to have had the opposite effect. By this week, she was besieged on all sides.
The protesting students were unmoved, and the camp soon grew to unprecedented proportions. Shafiq’s faculty threatened to revolt, calling it “an unprecedented attack on students’ rights.” At least one major Jewish donor has cut off financial support. The White House expressed serious concerns, but the same Republican lawmakers she had tried to court were calling for her to resign.
Columbia declined a request to interview Shafiq.
However, a school spokesman issued a statement saying that the president maintained “continuous contact” while in Washington, including phone calls that lasted until midnight. Spokeswoman Samantha Slater also said Shafiq was now focused on “defusing hostilities.”
With only a few days left in the spring semester, neither side seems quite sure how this is going to end. The school leadership is looking forward to summer coming soon, hoping that the May graduation ceremony can go smoothly without interruption.
It will be extremely difficult for Columbia to find a balance between protecting students on campus and respecting the academic freedom it holds as its norm. The university has a large population of Jewish and Arab students, as well as a top Middle East studies department, a dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University in Israel, and a history of student activism that dates back to the 1960s.
An expert in international finance, Shafiq had no previous ties to Columbia and acknowledged the school was unprepared for the emotional outburst that followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. It was just a few days after her inauguration ceremony. However, as the protests escalated, and the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania lost their jobs due to their poor performance at congressional hearings in December, she gradually began to adopt a tougher attitude.
The school banned two student groups in the fall, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, whose high-profile protests repeatedly violated school rules. This month, the school suspended students for allegedly participating in an event called “Resistance 101,” in which speakers publicly praised Hamas.
When called to testify before the Republican-led House Education and Workforce Committee this month, Shafiq looked set to avoid the fate of other Ivy League presidents targeted by Congress.
Columbia spent months preparing for the hearing. Sherrah Murray, a former adviser to President Obama who runs the school’s public affairs office, recruited a large team of lawyers, political savvy and experts on anti-Semitism to prepare Shafik. Among them are President Biden’s former White House counsel Dana Rhimes; crisis communications expert Lisa Heller; a former Republican congressional aide; and longtime Hillary Clinton aide Phillip Lines.
Beginning the Saturday before the hearing, many team members gathered at the Washington office of Covington & Burling to conduct a mock rehearsal of the hearing.
Shafiq is determined to avoid the mistakes made by other Ivy League presidents, according to people familiar with her preparations. There were aspects of their testimony that seemed arrogant and tactful, and she wanted to appear humble and capable in those areas.
The school submitted thousands of pages of documents to the committee, including sensitive records that are almost never made public. Documents show Columbia University has suspended more than 15 students and removed five professors from classes, at least three of whom face charges of making Jewish students feel unsafe.
Although her testimony in disciplinary cases outraged supporters of academic freedom, the approach seemed to work well at the hearing. Shafiq defended free speech but said the university “cannot and should not tolerate abuse of this privilege”.
Resentful Republicans largely accepted these answers.
