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Columbia’s interim president was reportedly pushed by the Trump administration to publicly double down on her commitment to enforcing a mask ban and other policy changes following reports she privately downplayed the anti-Israel crackdown to faculty.
Katrina Armstrong, the interim head of the embattled university, had released a public statement Tuesday conceding she regretted “any confusion” and insisted the the Trump-ordered policy changes were “real.”
But the clarification came only after the White House got involved and urged her to reaffirm her commitment to the deal, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The about-face came after the Ivy League prez was reported to have assured faculty over the weekend there was no mask ban in place — even though the school had insisted to the Trump administration that they would be implementing one.
The Trump admin had called for the total ban on masks at campus protests as part of a sweeping list of reforms aimed at cracking down on antisemitism.
The school, which was given a month to comply or risk losing around $400 million in federal funding, caved and agreed to enforce the changes last Friday.
“I regret any confusion and inconsistent statements and want to make sure our position is clear as we go forward,” Armstrong said in the statement seeking to clarify her position.
“Let there be no confusion: I commit to seeing these changes implemented, with the full support of Columbia’s senior leadership team and the Board of Trustees.
“Any suggestion that these measures are illusory, or lack my personal support, is unequivocally false.
These changes are real, and they are right for Columbia,” she added.
The Post reached out to Columbia but didn’t hear back immediately.
