Columbia University’s interim president Katrina Armstrong was slammed by members of the school’s Jewish community after she apologized to anyone who felt “hurt” by the administration’s decision to clear out the campus’ destructive anti-Israel protests last spring.
Dr. Armstrong issued the mea culpa in an interview with the Ivy League school’s newspaper, the Columbia Spectator after she was asked about the school requesting the NYPD to break up a sprawling encampment and remove protesters from Hamilton Hall on separate days last April.
“I know that this is tricky for me to say, but I do understand that I sit in this job, right. And so if you could just let everybody know who was hurt by that, that I’m just incredibly sorry,” Armstrong told the newspaper that published its story early Thursday.
“And I know it wasn’t me, but I’m really sorry … I saw it, and I’m really sorry.”
Armstrong assumed her current role after former Columbia president Minouche Shafik suddenly stepped down in August after she faced intense criticism for her handling the constant – and at times destructive – anti-Israel demonstrations following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and the subsequent war in Gaza.
More than 100 protesters, part of a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on a campus green, were taken into custody after Shafik called on the NYPD to enter university grounds. About two weeks later, hundreds of cops were allowed on campus again to haul away more than 100 protesters from Hamilton Hall.
On both occasions, the elite school said it regretted summoning police, but stressed officials were left with no choice. The school accused protesters that took over Hamilton Hall of forcing school safety officers out of the building and threatening a janitor.
Armstrong’s apology was blasted by Jewish members of the school community.
“Instead of apologizing to the antisemitic protesters, [Armstrong] should be apologizing to the Jewish students for failing to protect them from relentless discrimination and harassment,” student Maya Cukierman, 19, told The Post.
Matthew Schweber, who is part of the school’s Jewish alumni association, said the apology “only dramatizes the moral rot, intellectual bankruptcy, and institutional antisemitism that besets my alma mater.”
Columbia Law School graduate Rory Lancman called Armstrong’s apology an “ominous sign” as the new school is underway.
“It’s an ominous sign for Columbia’s dwindling cohort of Jewish students that its interim president is starting the new academic year by apologizing for Columbia’s enforcement of basic time, place, and manner restrictions on anti-Israel protestors who terrorized Columbia’s Jewish community” and affected other students and staff on campus, said Lancman, who is senior counsel the Louis Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
And Ari Shrage, who is the head of the school Jewish alumni association, called Armstrong’s statement “tone deaf.”
“Why is she apologizing? An apology sends the message that there shouldn’t be consequences for breaking the rules,” he said. “This is exactly the opposite of what Columbia needs now.”
The school told The Post in a statement Armstrong has worked to engage and listen with a wide range of students and communities on campus “and has heard about the harm they experienced last academic year.”
“Dr. Armstrong gave a wide-ranging interview with the student newspaper that in part focused on the impact of the past year, and just as she has as done while speaking to many groups across our campus, she recognized their pain and reiterated how sorry she is to all students who are hurting,” a spokesperson said.
“She remains committed to ensuring everyone at the university feels safe and respected as we rebuild and heal this year.
Armstrong, who also leads the school’s Irving Medical Center, also told the Columbia Spectator that school has to be committed to enabling students the ability to express their views and engage in debate while also ensuring academic activities continue.
She stressed she wants to “keep this campus peaceful, safe.”
“I want to just say, I see the harm that happened,” Armstrong reportedly said. “And I am deeply committed that I work with all of you, I work with all of the community to both address that harm and to understand.”
