Columbia pres. announces he will step down

After eight years at the helm, Columbia University President George Rupp announced Saturday that he will step down from the Ivy League school on July 1. Rupp is the latest in a string of Ivy League presidents to resign in recent months. Harvard and Princeton universities are currently searching for new leaders, while Brown University completed its nine-month presidential search last November. "I have decided that next year will be my last as Columbia's president," Rupp told Columbia's Board of Trustees on Saturday, according to a Columbia statement. "I am announcing my intention to resign now in order to allow time for an orderly succession." When Rupp first took the position, he told Columbia's Trustees that he only planned to stay between eight and 10 years. Although his resignation came eight years after he took office, the announcement stunned the campus. "We knew it was coming, but we didn't know when," Columbia College Student Council President and senior Ariel Neuman said. "We didn't know that it was coming now." Some said Rupp carefully considered the timing of his announcement. "With the need to search for a new president and the time to get a new president installed before [Columbia's] 250th anniversary [in 2004], he thought that rather than making it a grandiose time for him to make an exit, it was better to make it a big kick-off to a new president," said Rohit Aggarwala, a History graduate student and chairman of the Student Caucus of the University Senate. Columbia's Trustees have already begun to form a search committee to find Rupp's successor, but they remain disappointed by Rupp's decision to leave the Columbia community. "For years, George told us that right about now was when he expected he would like to retire," Columbia Trustees Chairman Stephen Friedman said in a statement. "In the end we reluctantly accepted his decision, with regret but with great appreciation for a magnificent job." Harold Shapiro of Princeton University is now the longest-sitting Ivy president, having taken office in 1988. Although he recently announced his resignation, he will stay at Princeton until a new leader is selected. Judith Rodin took the helm at Penn in 1994. In an e-mail sent to students, staff and alumni on Saturday, Rupp asked the Columbia community to "join me in remaining energetically engaged in our common enterprise." "It hasn't soaked in yet, but I think on Monday morning the buzz will be going around," Senior Class President Jorge Herrera said. "Especially since we're in the midst of midterms and spring break, we're in our own little bubbles." During his remarks Saturday, Rupp reminded the Trustees of Columbia's accomplishments under his leadership. He spoke of a strengthened undergraduate program, now with an acceptance rate of under 13 percent, the conclusion of a fundraising campaign which added $2.8 billion to Columbia's endowment and the addition of 159 new professors. Aggarwala, who also completed his undergraduate studies at Columbia, spoke of Rupp's first few years as "rocky," noting that his focus on undergraduate education left graduate teaching assistants overworked and underpaid. This started talk of unionization among TAs that still persists today. Rupp's leadership was also tested by a 1996 student hunger strike meant to convince the university to establish a Department of Ethnic Studies. "But he recovered, and certainly when he arrived on campus, the university was in need of an energetic new beginning," Aggarwala said. While some students laud Rupp's accomplishments, what others wanted -- but claim not to have received -- was accessibility. "In my view, he's been a fundraiser president," Herrera said. "It's usually a battle trying to get into the offices." But Neuman spoke of Rupp's efforts to be accessible. Rupp held office hours for students and agreed to participate in a forum with the student body on March 20 intended to "open up a line of dialogue between students and administrators." "I would hope that his successor would find a way to teach a few classes or sit in the cafeteria one day -- just the kind of small things that would make a difference," Columbia College Student Council Vice President and senior Dina Epstein said. For now, after spending his last 25 years as an academic dean or president, Rupp has no certain plans for the future. Speaking to the Trustees, Rupp said that he may teach courses at Columbia, such as Contemporary Civilization. But Rupp is sure of one thing. "At this point, I will not rule out other options that might develop in the course of the coming year -- except to note that I will not become the president of another university."