Columbia President Shafik faces intense pressure on numerous fronts

Minouche Shafik has been president of Columbia University for less than a year. But any grace period typically afforded to a new leader of a large and complicated institution abruptly ended this month, as she faces intense pressure, and outright hostility, on numerous fronts.Ongoing protests over the Israel-Gaza war have effectively ground normal university life to a halt on the Ivy League campus, and Shafik now finds herself in the crosshairs of Republican lawmakers including House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), who visited Columbia on Wednesday and called on her to resign. At least two…