Acting Columbia president sorry for calling to remove Jewish board member after Oct. 7
Claire Shipman apologizes for leaked texts calling Shoshana Shendelman a ‘mole,’ as US university seeks to restore federal funding in talks over response to anti-Israel protests
Acting Columbia University President Claire Shipman apologized Wednesday for calling to remove a Jewish university board member amid US campus turmoil following Hamas’s October 2023 onslaught in Israel.
The Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce exposed texts from Shipman on Tuesday.
The committee, which has been investigating antisemitism at Columbia, sent a letter to Shipman requesting “clarity regarding several messages you sent that appear to downplay and even mock the pervasive culture of antisemitism on Columbia’s campus.”
On October 30, 2023, Shipman wrote to then-university president Minouche Shafik, saying: “People are really frustrated and scared about antisemitism on our campus, and they feel somehow betrayed by it. Which is not necessarily a rational feeling.”
On January 17, 2024, Shipman said, “We need to get somebody from the Middle East or who is Arab on our board,” according to texts obtained by the House committee. The committee said the texts raised concerns about the university’s compliance with non-discrimination rules and its approach toward antisemitism.
Shipman also spoke out against Shoshana Shendelman, a Jewish member of Columbia’s board of trustees who had spoken out against the harassment of Jewish students.
In January 2024, Shipman said, “I just don’t think she should be on the board,” and called Shendelman “extraordinarily unhelpful.” In April 2024, Shipman agreed with a colleague who suggested Shendelman was a “mole” and a “fox in the henhouse.”
“I am tired of her,” Shipman, who was on the board at the time, said.
Shendelman, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and Columbia alumna, was one of the most vocal trustees in demanding that Columbia crack down on anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests and address charges of antisemitism.
In an op-ed last month for Fox News, Shendelman said she was targeted by unnamed “media voices” for her advocacy around those issues. “After voicing my concerns regarding antisemitism on campus, I became a target of certain media voices determined to erase decades of my work, service, and scholarship with a few calculated, malevolent strokes of a pen,” she wrote.
Leaders of the committee said in the letter to Shipman: “These exchanges raise the question of why you appeared to be in favor of removing one of the board’s most outspoken Jewish advocates at a time when Columbia students were facing a shocking level of fear and hostility.”
In a letter sent to some faculty members Wednesday afternoon, Shipman apologized.
“The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel. I have apologized directly to the person named in my texts, and I am apologizing now to you,” Shipman said, according to a copy of the email shared with The Times of Israel.
“It was a moment of immense pressure, over a year and a half ago, as we navigated some deeply turbulent times. But that doesn’t change the fact that I made a mistake,” she said, adding that she maintains her “deep commitment to fighting antisemitism and protecting our Jewish students and faculty.”
Shafik resigned last year amid intense turmoil of antisemitism and anti-Israel activism on campus, and her replacement, Katrina Armstrong, stepped down in March.
Shipman took the mantle and was seen as a more effective advocate for Jewish students than her predecessors. In May, Shipman authorized the mass arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia’s campus, underscoring the school’s recent policy shifts towards protesters as a result of the US federal government’s demands.
In a statement to JTA, Columbia claimed the messages had been taken out of context.
“Columbia is deeply committed to combating antisemitism and working with the federal government on this very serious issue, including our ongoing discussions to reach an agreement with the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism,” the statement read.
“Acting President Claire Shipman has been vocally and visibly committed to eradicating antisemitism on campus; the work underway at the university to create a safe and welcoming environment for all community members makes that plain,” the statement continued.
The letter comes as the school faces pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration to address reports of antisemitism on its campus and many others. In March, the school acquiesced to a list of White House demands in a bid to win back $400 million in federal grants that were canceled over allegations of antisemitism at the school.
Columbia was an epicenter of widespread anti-Israel and in some cases antisemitic protests on campuses across the US last year, which saw frequent expressions of support for the Hamas terror group and its October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, as well as violations of school rules and local law.
A pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel encampment initiated at Columbia in the spring of 2024 triggered an international trend and caused many Jewish students on campus to report feelings of discomfort and isolation. Columbia is also one of several schools whose funding Trump has threatened.
The Times of Israel Community.