In a dramatic turn of events at one of America’s most elite universities, Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong has resigned, marking the second leadership shake-up at the Ivy League school in under a year.
The move comes as Columbia faces mounting pressure from the Trump administration over campus antisemitism, federal funding, and controversial protest policies. Stepping into the role as acting president is Claire Shipman — a longtime liberal journalist, elite insider, and wife of former Obama press secretary Jay Carney.
Columbia has been the epicenter of far-left views and organizing efforts to hurt Israeli interests and, many Jewish groups claim, target Jews nationwide for violence.
Protesters last May had said “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and their protest movement was spreading nationwide. The protester organizers blamed Israel for the Oct. 7th attacks.
Protest leaders asked to be thanked for not going out and killing Jews.
Three Columbia Deans had to resign last year because of anti-Jewish messages.
Many wealthy Jews, several worth billions, announced that they were subsequently pulling donations from Columbia.
President Trump also used the power of the Presidency to ensure that $400 million in federal funding was at risk unless Columbia addressed the Anti-Semitism of its students, faculty, and staff.
That demand is causing the college’s administration to collapse, again.
The resignation of Armstrong, who had served as interim president since former president Minouche Shafik stepped down in 2024, follows a contentious back-and-forth with the federal government over campus unrest. In recent months, Columbia has been accused of turning a blind eye to rising antisemitism, disorderly protests, and escalating threats against Jewish students — triggering a firm response from President Trump’s Department of Education.
The Trump administration had threatened to pull more than $400 million in federal funding unless Columbia implemented strict reforms.
Among the demands from Trump to Columbia:
- an end to campus policies that allegedly allowed masked protestors to intimidate and disrupt,
- enforcement of civil rights protections, and
- clear consequences for student groups promoting so-called “hate speech.”
Detractors of President Trump’s initiatives have suggested that these efforts are an affront to free speech protections. Columbia is a private college, however, so it is not under the same free speech requirements as other colleges.
Additionally, respected free speech groups indicate that Columbia has an awful track record at protecting campus free speech. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education says that Columbia regularly ranks second-to-last in protecting campus speech, in the organization’s 2025 College Free Speech Rankings.
Columbia doesn’t allow free speech, it punishes conservatives, it promotes far-left views, and it specifically encourages and amplifies far-left violent rhetoric against Jewish students.
After weeks of internal turmoil and widespread criticism of Armstrong’s handling of the situation, Columbia’s Board of Trustees reportedly agreed to the federal demands from President Trump — including a full ban on masks at protests and a restructuring of how student groups are supervised and funded.
Armstrong, who also serves as the CEO of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, quietly announced she would step down and return to her former position.
Stepping in as acting president is Claire Shipman, a longtime Columbia trustee since 2013 with deep connections to the Democratic political machine. Shipman is a former ABC News and CNN correspondent and has served on Columbia’s Board of Trustees since 2013, including as co-chair since 2023. She holds degrees from both Columbia College and Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Shipman is the co-author of three books: Womenomics (2009), The Confidence Code (2014), and The Confidence Code for Girls (2018).
Shipman is married to Jay Carney, the former White House press secretary under Barack Obama, and has long been a fixture in elite media and academic circles. Critics are already questioning whether her elevation to the presidency is an ideological doubling-down rather than an effort to de-politicize the university’s leadership.
Shipman is now tasked with leading Columbia through what may be the most politically fraught period in its modern history. Under pressure from alumni, donors, federal officials, and student activists from both the right and left, the university is at a crossroads. With a growing number of parents and taxpayers demanding accountability for elite institutions, Columbia’s leadership crisis may only be a preview of what’s coming for the rest of the Ivy League.
Historically, Columbia has produced far-left radicals. Among its most infamous alumnae is Elizabeth Bentley, a former Soviet courier who studied at Columbia before becoming a key figure in Soviet espionage in the United States. Known as the “Red Spy Queen,” Bentley eventually defected and exposed dozens of communist agents embedded in the federal government. She wasn’t alone—Columbia was a recruiting ground for left-wing intellectuals sympathetic to Marxism, many of whom passed through its corridors during the height of Stalinist infiltration. Known Soviet spies including Julian Wadleigh, Victor Perlo, Nathan Silvermaster, Harry Dexter White, were all students of Columbia. This ideological breeding ground mirrored broader trends in the Ivy League, where communist sympathies flourished under the guise of academic freedom, leaving another indelible stain on Columbia’s legacy.
This marks the third presidential shuffle at Columbia in just nine months, a stunning sign of instability at a university that once branded itself as the academic home of future presidents and Nobel laureates. But in the age of Trump — and with higher education increasingly exposed as a political and cultural battleground — even Columbia’s ivory tower can’t escape the reckoning.
The post Columbia Univ. President RESIGNS, Pressure from Trump Causes Major Shakeup at Far-Left College appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.