Who is Nemat Shafik, the Columbia president who went from facing global crises to angry students

In July 2023, renowned Egyptian economist Nemat Shafik became the first woman to head the prestigious university of Colombia. He took office at a tumultuous time for academia, with higher education facing challenges such as the end of race-based affirmative action for admissions and free speech. Shafik had extensive experience in global crises at his side and provided remarkable leadership during his first months in office until the start of the war in Gaza strip.

TO LOOK: “Tension in Colombia has increased”: pro-Palestine protests shake US universities

The military campaign that Israel launched in October last year in the Palestinian enclave following the terrorist attack by the Islamic group Hamas provoked a wave of student demonstrations in Colombia that has grown in recent weeks with students setting up tents in the main courtyard of the campus and shouting slogans in favor of Palestinian civilians and the rejection of Israel’s actions.

On the one hand, Shafik, also known as Minouche Shafik, had to deal with accusations of allowing anti-Semitism at the university and failing to ensure the safety of all students. On the other hand, he had to face demands that freedom of expression be respected.

After several failed attempts at dialogue with students, Shafik last week allowed police to intervene in demonstrations on campus, resulting in more than 100 arrests. It was the trigger that was needed for the protests to remain firm and expand strongly to other universities in the country.

People gather at the Columbia University campus occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters in New York on April 22. (Photo: AFP) (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/)

“The crisis led the Columbia administration to decide to remove the protesters, but ultimately this only caused tension at the university to increase,” Carlo Ángeles, a Peruvian pursuing a master’s degree in Public Administration at Columbia, told El Comercio.

In a message sent to campus last week, Shafik acknowledged he was taking an “extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances.” The camp, he said, “seriously disrupts campus life and creates an environment of harassment and intimidation for many of our students.”

The New York Times notes that Shafik faces criticism from many quarters for his handling of campus protests, highlighting the enormous challenge of leading a higher education center.

Nemat Shafik, 61, assumed the presidency of Colombia with optimism. “I’ve had jobs about doing good, like fighting poverty or running educational institutions, as well as jobs about stopping bad things from happening, like at the IMF and the Bank of England. Both are vital if we want to achieve and guarantee progress for humanity”, said the economist at the time, according to the Columbia website.

Already at that time, the American media claimed that his international experience was notable and unusual for a university president in the United States.

Shafik was born in Alexandria, Egypt. In the mid-1960s, when she was just four years old, her family migrated to the United States to escape political crises and discrimination.

Columbia notes that Shafik and her sister attended various schools in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina, and she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a BA in Economics and Politics in 1983. She earned a B.A. degree in Economics and Politics in 1983. Master of Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1986, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, in 1989.

After that, his career focused on global development continued to grow. At age 36, she was already the youngest vice president of the World Bank, and in the early 2000s she held academic positions at the Wharton Business School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Department of Economics at Georgetown University.

Shafik has notable international experience. (Photo: AFP)

In 2008, she was appointed permanent secretary at the UK Department for International Development. She later served as Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund and as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. In 2017, she returned to academia as president of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

“Throughout his career, Shafik has been at the center of efforts – often during crucial, high-stakes moments – to address some of the world’s most complex and disruptive challenges,” says Columbia.

He gives as an example that, at the World Bank, the economist worked on the institution’s first report on the environment and later advised Eastern European governments after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also worked on the European debt crisis and the Arab Spring while at the IMF. “At the Bank of England, he led work to combat misconduct in financial markets and was responsible for contingency planning around the Brexit referendum. At LSE, he encouraged academic work on rethinking the social contract for the modern economy,” the university adds.

The New York Times recalls that when she became president of Columbia, the university’s board of trustees said it found a “perfect candidate” in Shafik, a “brilliant and capable global leader, a community builder and a preeminent economist.” who understands academia” and the world beyond it.”

The war in Gaza caused several universities in the United States to face several cases of anti-Semitism. Columbia responded by suspending two pro-Palestinian student groups for violating university policies, and a committee was also created to combat the problem.

Congress held a hearing on anti-Semitism on college campuses in December last year, but Shafik did not attend due to a previously planned international trip.

Shafik appeared before the Congressional Education and Workforce Committee in mid-April at the invitation of Republican lawmakers. During his speech, he was asked whether the call for genocide violated the school’s code of conduct, to which he categorically stated that it did.

He also said a professor who described the Oct. 7 attacks as “stunning” would be removed from his leadership position.

“At the end of the hearing, some Republican lawmakers praised university leaders for recognizing that Columbia had a problem. But new problems were emerging at home. Dr. Shafik’s conciliatory approach during the hearing was criticized by academic freedom advocates, particularly for her revelations about ongoing investigations against faculty members”, recalls “The New York Times”.

Source: Elcomercio