Nancy Weiss Malkiel: A History Lesson for University Presidents

With campuses bracing for more protests, administrators should take a deep breath, step back from the frontlines, and look to history for lessons.

Protestors outside Nassau Hall, The Daily Princetonian, April 14, 1978 (R. Saunders).

By Nancy Weiss Malkiel

With the recent resignation of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, the third Ivy League president to resign under fire in nine months, and campuses across the country bracing for further protests this fall over the Israel-Hamas war, it would serve administrators well to take a deep breath, step back from the frontlines, and look to history for lessons.

The current climate is neither unprecedented nor unmanageable. And there is a historical figure, William G. Bowen (1933-2016), with whom I worked for many years, who stands as a helpful guide.

Bowen, who served as provost (1967-72) and president (1972-88) of Princeton and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (1988-2006), was the most important leader in American higher education in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He wrote many books on key issues in higher education, including Lessons Learned: Reflections o…