NEW YORK — Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after coming under fire for her handling of pro-Palestinian protests, according to an email to students and faculty obtained by the Daily News.

Shafik, in explaining her decision to step down, said the last several months had taken a “considerable toll” on her family, and that she would be departing for a job in the British government.

With her announcement, she became the third Ivy League president to resign in the last year after testimony before Congress on campus antisemitism.

“I have had the honor and privilege to lead this incredible institution, and I believe that — working together — we have made progress in a number of important areas,” she wrote. “However, it has also been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community.”

Shafik, an economist, took over the position one year ago from Lee Bollinger, stepping into the role just weeks before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, and a spate of campus protests that erupted over the war in Gaza.

Her resignation followed weeks of around-the-clock pro-Palestinian protests at the end of last semester, with students pitching tents in the heart of campus while Shafik appeared before Congress, urging administrators to divest from Israel over its war in Gaza.

In April, the university president summoned the police to clear an encampment that she said posed a safety risk, sparking a national wave of antiwar college protests. In an escalation, a smaller group of protesters who had returned to the lawns undeterred occupied a building, sparking another call to the NYPD — when an officer accidentally discharged his firearm and protesters sustained injuries.

The Columbia Board of Trustees in a follow-up email to Shafik’s wrote it “regretfully accepts” her resignation and announced Dr. Katrina Armstrong, chief executive office of its medical center, would take over as interim president.

Moments after Shafik’s resignation, it appeared unlikely the leadership shake-up would put an end to the protests. In a statement Wednesday night, the lead organizers of Columbia’s pro-Palestinian student advocacy suggested Shafik’s departure would not placate their movement.

“To be clear, any future president who does not pay heed to the Columbia student body’s overwhelming demand for divestment will end up exactly as President Shafik did,” warned the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which was suspended a couple of months into her tenure. Shafik and Columbia are currently facing a lawsuit by civil liberties groups for the removal.

Another campus group of Jewish and Israeli students urged the interim president to “enforce campus rules, ensure student safety, and return the university to its mission of learning and teaching.”

“We hope that this brings to a close this period of turmoil in Columbia’s history,” the student group wrote.

Last spring, Shafik faced an unprecedented vote of no confidence, as a majority of arts and sciences faculty said they had lost faith in her leadership. The university president said she would recommit herself to rebuilding trust with faculty and staff, before those efforts came to a sudden halt Wednesday.

Among the faculty’s misgivings at the time was what the group saw as a capitulation to Republican lawmakers outside the university who pressured Columbia to crack down on the pro-Palestinian protests. After the school leaders of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania gave academic answers to antisemitism concerns before Congress that contributed to their own resignations, Shafik, who was more critical of her faculty, appeared to emerge unscathed — until campus protests put Columbia at the center of a national debate.

In her email, Shafik said she was asked to chair a review of the United Kingdom’s international development with the Foreign Secretary and decided it was the right time to leave the university.

“Over the summer, I have been able to reflect and have decided that my moving on at this point would best enable Columbia to traverse the challenges ahead,” Shafik said. “It has been distressing — for the community, for me as president and on a personal level — to find myself, colleagues, and students the subject of threats and abuse.”

“I remain optimistic that differences can be overcome through the honest exchange of views, truly listening, and — always — by treating each other with dignity and respect.”

Undergraduate classes resume at Columbia on Sept. 3. In anticipation of more protests, administrators implemented a color-coded campus lockdown system and were considering a proposal to give campus security personnel the power of arrest. It was not immediately clear on Wednesday night whether the plan was still under consideration in the wake of Shafik’s departure.

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