Columbia President Shipman Promises "to Do Better"

Claire Shipman

"We need to get somebody from the middle east [sic] or who is Arab on our board," Shipman wrote in one message on January 17, 2024. "Quickly I think. Somehow."

Things keep going from bad to worse at Columbia University, still reeling from pro-Hamas encampments, anti-Semitic harassment, and the government's efforts to deport student Mahmoud Khalil for his alleged role in creating havoc on campus in the name of the Palestinian movement. Now Acting President Claire Shipman is feeling the heat after the release of text messages she wrote in 2023-2024, months after October 7, 2023, attacking Shoshan Shendelman, a Jewish member of the Columbia Board of Trustees, and calling for an Arab to replace her. She also reportedly downplayed and mocked allegations of campus anti-Semitism. Shipman, a former journalist for CNN, NBC, and ABC, and ex-wife of Jay Carney, who served as press secretary in the Obama White House, has apologized in a letter to certain university officials and says her words during a period of frustration and stress do not reflect how she feels.

She promises to do better.

Jay Carney

At the time of the text messages in question, Shipman was co-chair of the Board of Trustees. One of the recipients of the messages was Minouche Shafik, then president of Columbia. Shafik resigned under fire after her disastrous testimony before Congress on the ongoing problems of anti-Semitism on her campus, coupled with the eventual NYPD breakup of the occupation of a campus building

Here is the report from the Washington Free Beacon, which first broke the story.

And here is how the Columbia Spectator (campus newspaper) is reporting the mess. It also reports that Shipman was in favor of rolling back suspensions of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).

Just as an aside, I should add that in the same online edition, the paper is endorsing none other than Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor. But I digress.

Of course, all this comes at a time when Columbia's accreditation has been under question by the Department of Education, $400,000,00 in federal funding was suspended by the Trump administration, and the university's reputation as a world-class university is in shatters.  Shafik's resignation was followed by the interim presidency of Katrina Armstrong, who "distinguished" herself by apologizing to pro-Palestinian students who were affected by the above NYPD action. She was eventually replaced by Shipman, who has now added to the mess at Columbia. 

It is pretty clear at this point that Shipman should resign or be replaced. She has continued the work of her predecessors in bringing disgrace to Columbia. Remember that this is the same university that has professors Rashid Khalidi (emeritus) and Joseph Massad on their faculty. These two so-called educators have done as much, if not more, than any other professor in the country to stir up anti-Jewish feeling on campus as part of their pro-Palestinian advocacy. In recent years, Columbia has arguably been the most hostile campus in the country for Jewish students. That's saying a lot given the sheer number of universities affected by this wave of anti-Jewish hate masquerading as promoting the Palestinian cause.

Columbia desperately needs new leadership. Shipman must go.