Columbia University president Minouche Shafik will skip the biggest ceremony for graduating seniors on campus next week following weeks of division over anti-Israel protests that ended with two NYPD crackdown on campus.
A note that went out to student at Columbia College — which is attended by more than half of the university’s undergraduate students — indicated that Shafik would not appear at “Class Day.”
The Class Day celebrations typically feature student and keynote speakers, and are a chance for graduates to walk across the stage and shake hands with the dean and university president before they are formally conferred their degrees.
Class Day is also a major opportunity for friends and family members to celebrate the completion of studies at the $90,000-per-year university.
Shafik’s absence at the May 14 event was quietly announced via an addendum to a Class Day information email that was sent to students, Columbia senior Irie Sentner first reported.
“Program Adjustment: President Shafik will not be in attendance at Columbia College’s Class Day ceremony. Please note: this change is not reflected in printed programs,” the note read, according to the email viewed by The Post.
Columbia declined to confirm the report when initially reached by The Post.
Columbia College is the main undergraduate school at the Ivy League university, alongside the Fu Foundation School for Engineering and Applied Sciences and the General Studies program.
The offices for Columbia College are located in Hamilton Hall, the academic building that was occupied by anti-Israel protesters earlier this month.
Shafik – who was already in hot water on both sides over her handling of the campus tent encampment – faced a new wave of criticism when she authorized the NYPD to raid campus for a second time and clear building.
The operation resulted in dozens of arrests and added to the ongoing strife on-campus.
A few days later, Columbia announced it was canceling the university-wide commencement ceremony due to security concerns.
In a video statement shared shortly after the Hamilton raid, Shafik said the protesters who occupied the building had “crossed a new line.”
The incident also resulted in a large group of angry students practicing the traditional finals week “primal scream” outside Shafik’s official residence.
The students shouted “resign” and “shame on you” at the Morningside Heights manse, along with calls for Columbia to divest from Israel.
In an op-ed published in the Financial Times this week, Shafik urged other university officials to “engage in serious soul searching’ over the fallout from the protest movement that swept the country.
“We must do a better job of defining the boundaries between the free speech rights of one part of our community and the rights of others to be educated in a place free of discrimination and harassment,” she wrote.
Columbia did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment on Shafik’s decision to skip the class day, and whether she will also fail to appear at other graduation celebrations.
