Columbia Remains Divided but Cautiously Optimistic as President Departs

Columbia University students and faculty confronted a tangle of emotions on Thursday morning after the sudden departure of the school’s president, Nemat Shafik.

Some protesters and politicians who had harried her for months celebrated and claimed victory. Other students and faculty members contemplating her departure were saddened. But there was also cautious optimism that the new interim president, Katrina Armstrong, could better manage a chaotic campus situation that in many ways had become ungovernable for Dr. Shafik.

As a newcomer to Columbia, Dr. Shafik had limited experience to help her navigate tensions among different factions on campus and manage a pro-Palestinian movement undeterred by suspensions, arrests and locked campus gates. She was criticized by both those who thought she did too much to crack down on protesters and those who thought she did not do enough.

But Dr. Shafik’s departure still left some students and faculty members with a sense of sadness that the university had become so toxic for her that she felt she had to leave.

Dr. Andrew R. Marks, a member of the executive committee of the University Senate, had broadly supported Dr. Shafik, though he said he disapproved of her calling the police to campus against the Senate’s advice.

“She was the first woman president of Columbia University and many of us had high hopes for her leadership,” he said.