Columbia University this week tapped University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin as its\u00a0 fourth president in two years \u2014 and first Jewish leader in three decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the New York City campus, which was roiled by antisemitic turmoil for nearly two years following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, has been quieter in recent months<\/a>, Jewish student leaders who worked closely with Mnookin at Wisconsin expressed optimism that she could help Columbia repair its strained relationship with the federal government and ongoing division among students and manage the implementation of recent recommendations<\/a> made by the school\u2019s antisemitism task force.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, Mnookin, a legal scholar who served as dean of the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law before moving to Wisconsin in 2022, faced some criticism over concessions she made with Students for Justice in Palestine protesters during an anti-Israel encampment on the Madison campus in April 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mnookin initially sent law enforcement to shut down the student encampment \u2014 resulting in the arrest of roughly three dozen demonstrators \u2014 then negotiated with protesters after they established a new encampment. The non-binding deal<\/a> reached to dismantle that encampment required SJP to comply with university protest rules in exchange for the right to present their divestment demands to university leaders, who did not consent to their requests.<\/p>\n Under Mnookin\u2019s leadership, SJP was suspended<\/a> from campus in July 2025 for violating university policy while protesting an event with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield. SJP was reinstated, on probation, earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n After Columbia\u2019s board of trustees announced her unanimous appointment, Mnookin wrote in an email to the Columbia community on Monday that \u201cthe last several years have been challenging ones for higher education, certainly including Columbia. Having had the privilege for the past few years of leading a public flagship university in a complex time, I well understand the significant uncertainties and heightened scrutiny many universities are now facing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe chancellor being Jewish would lead a lot of Jewish students to automatically assume she\u2019s \u2018on our side.\u2019 That\u2019s not her role, despite what her personal beliefs might be outside of her position. [But] Mnookin was definitely present in the aftermath of Oct. 7,\u201d Jacob Bigelman, who graduated from Wisconsin in May with a degree in personal finance, told Jewish Insider.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bigelman, a former AEPi chapter president, helped organize the first meeting post-Oct. 7 between Jewish students and Mnookin \u201cto express concerns about antisemitism and when freedom of speech teeters on the line of hate speech,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s a very experienced legal scholar with an understanding of the First Amendment,\u201d Bigelman said. When Mnookin didn\u2019t put out a statement immediately following the terrorist attacks, as many other university leaders had done, Bigelman questioned her about the silence during an encounter at the university\u2019s Hillel, a couple days after the attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe said it was a classic lose-lose situation,\u201d he recalled. \u201cYou\u2019re never going to make someone happy enough and it creates a precedent that every time a world event happens the university has to comment on everything.\u201d Mnookin did release a statement<\/a> on Oct. 11, which Bigelman described as \u201cneutral.\u201d In it, she expressed concern that \u201cthese devastating developments will fan the global flames of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, making peace and justice in the region even more elusive.\u201d<\/p>\n Later, her response to the encampment \u201cleft everyone wanting a little bit more,\u201d said Bigelman. \u201cJewish students, and people fed up with the protests in general, were happy to see she gave them warnings. When those weren\u2019t met she brought in the police. A lot of people were glad to see the university was taking concrete steps to follow through on dismantling the protest. When the encampment started again, a lot of people were hoping they would send the police back in and were disappointed to find out that they were going to enter negotiations with SJP.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, Bigelman said that \u201cthe negotiations were purely symbolic and she didn\u2019t give in on anything of substance. The symbolism of negotiating with them is what frustrated a lot of Jewish students.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think what Mnookin did well is she maintained institutional control,\u201d he continued. \u201cCampus never got to the levels of Columbia, which was seen as ground zero of all of this. Everyone was left wanting a little bit more [from her], but at the end of the day, in terms of negotiations with protesters, nothing happened with negotiations that impacted the way the university discloses its finances. I think it was just making the Palestinian cause feel that it had more space on campus. But just the symbolism of it left a sour taste in a lot of our mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n Bigelman said that he would have liked to see more transparency from the administration, which relied on \u201cproceduralism, such as codes of conduct, disciplinary probation, internal committees, that came off as a bit obscure to people involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall though, \u201cthe chancellor was good to our university,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, she prevented the campus from turning into something worse. [That] track record may be why she was eyed for this opening at Columbia.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He added, \u201cI think Mnookin will be strong with working with Congress\u201d in regard to reinstating Columbia\u2019s funding that was slashed<\/a> by the federal government over an alleged failure to combat antisemitism. The university announced in July it would implement several commitments in an effort to restore some $400 million in federal funding. \u00a0<\/p>\n Sophie Small, who graduated from UW-Madison in December with a double major in history and religious studies, met Mnookin several times at Hillel. The chancellor was \u201ca frequent flier at things like Rosh Hashanah services and would always come and light the Hanukkah candles on the first night,\u201d Small, who served on Hillel\u2019s executive board, recalled.<\/p>\n Small, who described the encampment as \u201ca gathering\u201d that was not disruptive like on other campuses, said she feels \u201c70 percent positive, 30 percent negative\u201d about how Mnookin handled protests and her relationship with Jews on campus.<\/p>\n \u201cShe did what she could and she showed up for the Jewish community in ways I was impressed by,\u201d said Small. \u201cShe did not stop coming to Rosh Hashanah even though she was under flak from Jewish students and parents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited for her to be at Columbia,\u201d continued Small. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like Columbia was encouraging its students to engage in conversation [the way Wisconsin did]. Our encampment was a night and day difference from Columbia\u2019s. I think she\u2019ll be good there. It will be good for Columbia to have a Jewish leader.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Mnookin grew up in a Reform Jewish family in the Bay Area. Her father, Robert Mnookin, is on the board of directors at Harvard Hillel and the author of The Jewish American Paradox: Embracing Choice in a Changing World.<\/p>\n Mnookin\u2019s tenure comes on the heels of three other presidents who grappled with campus unrest post-Oct. 7. Minouche Shafik, who was leading the university during the attacks, cited the \u201cperiod of turmoil\u201d that followed when she resigned in 2024. Shafik was criticized by members of Congress and some of the Columbia community over her handling of the encampment<\/a>, which included physical intimidation of Jewish students.\u00a0<\/p>\n Katrina Armstrong, who briefly replaced Shafik, abruptly stepped down<\/a> in March 2025 as the school faced pressure and funding cuts from the Trump administration over antisemitism allegations.<\/p>\n Claire Shipman, Armstong\u2019s successor and the current interim president, struck a deal with the government to restore funding. She also faced scrutiny \u2014 and later apologized<\/a> \u2014 for leaked text messages where she suggested<\/a> that a Jewish trustee should be removed from the university\u2019s board over her pro-Israel advocacy.<\/p>\n Hillel directors at Wisconsin and Columbia both expressed support for Mnookin in statements on Monday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMnookin has been an outstanding friend and partner to UW Hillel, and she has consistently and thoughtfully supported our students,\u201d said Greg Steinberger, CEO and president of UW Hillel. \u201cHer leadership, work ethic and commitment to building community has helped us grow the wonderful Jewish community the UW has long been known for. The UW Hillel Foundation is grateful to Chancellor Mnookin for her friendship, service, and leadership, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her through the spring semester. We remember fondly celebrating our holidays with the Chancellor. She has stood with us through the challenges, sorrow, and sadness that our community and the campus have experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Cohen, executive director of the Kraft Center for Jewish Life, Columbia\u2019s Hillel, said, \u201cthe last few years have been undeniably difficult for the Jewish and Israeli communities on campus. While challenges remain, there is a vibrant, joyful, proud Jewish community at Columbia. I am hopeful that President-elect Mnookin will bring the reputation, experience, and understanding that we need to build on that strong foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n Judea Pearl, a professor of computer science at UCLA \u2014 where Mnookin served as law school dean from 2015-2022 \u2014 was also supportive of Columbia\u2019s new hire, calling Mnookin a \u201cgood choice\u201d in a post<\/a> on X.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Mnookin will begin her tenure on July 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Columbia University this week tapped University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin as its\u00a0 fourth president in two years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-260811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}