New York — Columbia University has named Jennifer Mnookin, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as its next president as it tries to move forward after two years of turmoil that included campus protests over… Israel-Hamas war and President Donald Trump’s subsequent campaign to crush student activism and force changes at the Ivy League school.
Mnookin appointment It was announced Sunday night. She will assume her new position on July 1, becoming Colombia’s fifth leader in the past four years.
The Trump administration targeted Columbia University shortly after he took office last year, making it his first target in what has become a broader campaign to influence how America’s elite universities handle protests, which students they accept, and what they teach in the classroom.
Immigration enforcement agents jailed some Columbia University students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests in 2024. The administration canceled $400 million in research grants at the school and its hospital system in the name of Combating anti-Semitism on campusIt threatened to withhold billions of additional dollars in government support.
Ultimately, Colombia reached an agreement with the administration on this He paid more than $220 million To recover research funds. It also agreed to reform the university’s student disciplinary process and implement a controversial, federally mandated system Definition of anti-Semitism Not only for teaching but for the disciplinary committee that was made Investigating students who criticize Israel.
Mnookin’s predecessor, Nimat Shafiq, resigned in August 2024 after scrutiny of her handling of protests and divisions on campus. The university appointed Katrina Armstrong, CEO of the School of Medicine, but she resigned last March, days after Columba agreed to the settlement. The Board of Trustees then appointed their co-chair, Claire Shipman, as acting president while they search for a permanent leader.
Mnookin, 58, previously served as dean of the UCLA School of Law before being appointed to her current position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in August 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a law degree from Yale Law School, and a doctorate in the history and social study of science and technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.