Send in the Clowns | City Journal
First, Shafik s resignation. Here is its first paragraph, in full:
I write with sadness to tell you that I am stepping down as president of Columbia University effective August 14, 2024. I have had the honor and privilege to lead this incredible institution, and I believe that working together we have made progress in a number of important areas. However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community. Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead. I am making this announcement now so that new leadership can be in place before the new term begins.
Sadness? Appropriate. Progress in a number of important areas? No evidence is provided, but let us, in the spirit of human kindness, nod right along. But then we get to the heart of the matter: a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. What, pray tell, ushered in this period of turmoil? Shafik s statement doesn t say, making it seem as if the turmoil and everything that followed emanated from the period itself: it was the dawn of the Age of Aquarius, Mercury was in retrograde, and the Earth was suddenly awash in cosmic duress. Having hardly recovered from such deadening vagueness, we are finally treated to a bit of thick description: the turmoil, Madam President informs us, arose because we found it difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.
This last bit is, technically speaking, entirely true. The anti-Semites on Columbia s campus called for the destruction of the world s only Jewish state, cheered for the beheaders of babies and the rapists of women and girls, smacked Jews over the head, barred them from moving around campus freely, and violently took over one of the university s buildings, holding an employee hostage. And the Jewish students, having apparently no respect for the spirit of academic freedom, refused to compromise and meet halfway those who wished them dead. No wonder no divergent views were overcome. And shame on those hard-hearted Jews for inflicting such difficulties not only on the noble-minded Minouche Shafik but also on her family.
Liel Leibovitz