Columbia University's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, resigned following faculty backlash regarding the university's compliance with Trump administration demands to secure $400 million in federal funding. Her departure marked a historical first, wherein a trustee took her place without faculty consultation, revealing deep governance issues in American higher education. This incident highlights a growing inability of universities to uphold academic freedom and shared governance. The responsibility for preserving these values increasingly falls on boards of trustees, whose questionable decision-making processes are now under scrutiny as stakes rise for university integrity.
Late on Friday evening, the trustees of Columbia University announced that its interim president, Katrina Armstrong, was leaving her post.
The president and her staff called their predicament heartbreaking and sought to reassure faculty that academic freedom and departmental autonomy remained intact.
This has been building for years, but now the stakes are higher than ever: the very survival of the university as we know it.
Those committed to the distinctive strengths of the university as a maker, teacher and custodian of knowledge.
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