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Columbia University’s interim president, Dr. Katrina Armstrong, in an interview with The Columbia Spectator published Thursday, apologized to those “hurt” by the New York City Police Department’s clearings of pro-Palestinian demonstrators from the campus during the spring.
The student newspaper wrote that it asked Armstrong whether she agreed with former president Minouche Shafik’s controversial decision to call in the NYPD to remove a recently formed protest encampment—leading to more than 100 student arrests—and, later, to call in the police again to clear occupiers from Hamilton Hall.
“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 responded. “And I know it wasn’t me, but I’m really sorry … I saw it, and I’m really sorry.”
Armstrong, who became interim president when Shafik abruptly resigned in mid-August, also said, “I see the harm that happened” 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.”
The NYPD didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday from Inside Higher Ed.
“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 Columbia spokesperson said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed.
Some weren’t happy with Armstrong’s apology. Shai Davidai, a Columbia Business School assistant professor and a vocal critic of pro-Palestinian campus protesters, posted on X Thursday that he was “deeply disappointed.”
“Did she apologize to the Jewish and Israeli students who were terrorized for months on campus?” Davidai wrote. “No. She apologized to the students who *broke the rules and faced consequences*.”
Steven McGuire, the Paul and Karen Levy Fellow in Campus Freedom at the conservative American Council of Trustees and Alumni, posted on X that “the weakness is just incredible.”
“The protestors broke the law,” he wrote. “They occupied a building. Antisemitism ran wild. The main graduation had to be canceled. The campus is still in partial lockdown. There has already been more vandalism this semester. And she’s apologizing? She should be promising to do it again if necessary.”
