Minouche Shafik hired by UK government after resigning from Columbia in wake of Gaza protests
The former president of Columbia University, who resigned on Wednesday in the aftermath of student protests over the war on Gaza, has landed a job in the British government's Foreign Office.
Minouche Shafik, an Egyptian-born British-American citizen and a baroness in the House of Lords, was vice chancellor at the London School of Economics from 2017 until 2023, when she was appointed president of Columbia in the US.
She resigned on Wednesday, months after her handling of the pro-Palestine campus protests drew widespread criticism.
The economist had called in the police to deal with protesters who had launched sit-ins at buildings on campus in April.
Shafik revealed in her resignation statement from Columbia that UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has asked her to chair a review of the government's approach to international development.
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"I am very pleased and appreciative that this will afford me the opportunity to return to work on fighting global poverty and promoting sustainable development, areas of lifelong interest to me," she said.
"It also enables me to return to the House of Lords to reengage with the important legislative agenda put forth by the new UK government."
'Astonishing' decision
Dozens of students were arrested by New York police officers in riot gear who entered the university's main campus.
Shafik’s handling of the campus encampment was also criticised by pro-Israel advocates, who claimed she failed to protect Jewish students against the protests - although many of the pro-Palestine demonstrators were Jewish.
Students with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, one of the groups that led the campus protests, welcomed her resignation but said it was seeking the university’s divestment from companies supportive of the Israeli military.
Lammy, the UK's new foreign secretary, has said he commissioned fresh legal advice into Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law in its war on Gaza on his first day in office, in early July.
Sources told MEE in late July that the government planned to introduce restrictions to arms sales on the final day of parliament before summer recess.
But no announcements were made, with reports in the Times and Guardian in early August suggesting the decision was delayed as the government identified which UK-made weapons may have been used in Israel's war on Gaza and which have been used defensively.
Some British academics have criticised Lammy's move to hire Shafik.
Professor Nicholas Guyatt, director of undergraduate studies at Cambridge University's history faculty, described the news as "astonishing" - noting that Shafik's resignation from Columbia was "long overdue".
Professor Priyamvada Gopal, who teaches postcolonial studies at Cambridge, said: "The fact that Columbia University's President who has had to resign in disgrace is immediately embraced and rehabilitated by Starmerite Labour tells you a lot."
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