Dan Abrams: Left, right rejoice at Columbia president’s resignation

( NewsNation ) — The president of Columbia University announced she is stepping down months after chaotic student protests over the Israel-Hamas war. And here is the thing that makes this so odd, and so telling: both the left and the right are celebrating Minouche Shafik’s resignation and claiming victory.

It shows you that even a remotely balanced approach in this highly politicized political climate will still make you the target of the extremes.

She sent in the police twice to clear out the protesters. Many students, professors and left-wing agitators thought it was unnecessary and violated their rights. Yet many on the right thought she didn’t do it hard or fast enough.

Conservative lawmakers, who dragged her in front of Congress, are celebrating her resignation. House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X: “We welcome today’s news. Jewish students at Columbia beginning this school year should breathe a sigh of relief.”

And Congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York wrote: “three down, so many to go.” It’s an apparent reference to now-former University of PennsylvaniPpresident Liz Magill and former Harvard University President Claudine Gay, both of whom resigned under criticism over their handling of antisemitism on their college campuses.

And yet, when Shafik was dragged in front of Congress, she didn’t say anything that controversial. In fact, she was slammed by the pro-Palestinian groups for her remarks, and by some pro-Israel groups and donors who said she wasn’t doing enough to protect Jewish students.

Here is how she addressed antisemitic chants by some protesters:

“I found those chants incredibly distressing, and I wish profoundly people would not use them on our campus. I wish that even more after many conversations with our Jewish students when they tell me how they feel, they find it threatening. It has no place in our community.”

Meanwhile, the far left is also cheering Shafik’s downfall after demanding it for months. One student group that organized the protests on campus wrote: “After months of chanting ‘Minouche Shafik you can’t hide,’ she finally got the memo.”

I said at the time that, as a Columbia Law grad, I was ashamed and embarrassed by what I saw on Columbia’s campus. But what I was ashamed of, and remain so, were the actions of the radical students and faculty.

The reports of blatant antisemitism and harassment on campus, blaming Israel for October 7, students setting up encampments, then agitators completely taking a building over and barricading themselves inside, smashing windows with hammers, pitching tents outside, waving flags on the roof, refusing to leave. And you had some professors staging a mass walkout in solidarity with the students who were arrested.

Later, the arts and sciences faculty passed a resolution of no confidence in Shafik because she dared call in the police to remove the illegal anti-Israel demonstrations and encampments.

And then she kept a police presence on campus. Her own faculty accused her of an “unprecedented assault on students’ rights” for moving to arrest students — arrests, by the way, which I wholeheartedly supported.

She was also hit from the right for waiting two weeks to call police back a second time. It remains clear Shafik was never going to win.

Do I think she could have been tougher, sooner? Sure. But keep in mind that Shafik has, or had, a mostly liberal student body and faculty that she’s got to deal with.

And keep in mind she did a pretty fair job in the short time she was there, which is evidenced by the fact that both extremes are furious at her. It’s actually pretty sad that this is where we are. Just over a year into the job and she’s ousted precisely because she attempted a more moderate approach rather than caving to either extreme.

And what’s really unfortunate is that you can understand why Shafik resigned, perhaps even for her own personal safety. You have protesters singling out and targeting university executives like the COO of Columbia who recently had red paint thrown on his apartment building and dozens of crickets released into his lobby. And there were threatening posters with his name and picture left at the scene, specifically criticizing the university’s response to the protests.

So yes, I am angrier at the far left than the right. But my question for both is: what kind of job do you expect the next president of Columbia University to do?

Because she or he will be in the same position as Shafik with all the same problems, much the same student body, and all the same pressures from either side.

They have now appointed an interim president, and my guess is that, as the students return to school, if she does her job well, neither side will be happy with her, either.

That is not a job I would want.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.

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