Columbia University tapped University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin as its  fourth president in two years — and first Jewish leader in three decades. 

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, 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 made by the school’s antisemitism task force. 

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. 

Mnookin initially sent law enforcement to shut down the student encampment — resulting in the arrest of roughly three dozen demonstrators — then negotiated with protesters after they established a new encampment. The non-binding deal 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.

Under Mnookin’s leadership, SJP was suspended 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. 

After Columbia’s board of trustees announced her unanimous appointment, Mnookin wrote in an email to the Columbia community on Monday that “the 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.”

“The chancellor being Jewish would lead a lot of Jewish students to automatically assume she’s ‘on our side.’ That’s 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,” Jacob Bigelman, who graduated from Wisconsin in May with a degree in personal finance, told Jewish Insider. 

Bigelman, a former AEPi chapter president, helped organize the first meeting post-Oct. 7 between Jewish students and Mnookin “to express concerns about antisemitism and when freedom of speech teeters on the line of hate speech,” he said. 

“She’s a very experienced legal scholar with an understanding of the First Amendment,” Bigelman said. When Mnookin didn’t 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’s Hillel, a couple days after the attacks. 

“She said it was a classic lose-lose situation,” he recalled. “You’re 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.” Mnookin did release a statement on Oct. 11, which Bigelman described as “neutral.” In it, she expressed concern that “these devastating developments will fan the global flames of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, making peace and justice in the region even more elusive.”

Later, her response to the encampment “left everyone wanting a little bit more,” said Bigelman. “Jewish students, and people fed up with the protests in general, were happy to see she gave them warnings. When those weren’t 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.”  

At the same time, Bigelman said that “the negotiations were purely symbolic and she didn’t give in on anything of substance. The symbolism of negotiating with them is what frustrated a lot of Jewish students.”

“I think what Mnookin did well is she maintained institutional control,” he continued. “Campus 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.”

Bigelman said that he would have liked to see more transparency from the administration, which relied on “proceduralism, such as codes of conduct, disciplinary probation, internal committees, that came off as a bit obscure to people involved.”

Overall though, “the chancellor was good to our university,” he said. “At 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.” 

He added, “I think Mnookin will be strong with working with Congress” in regard to reinstating Columbia’s funding that was slashed 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.  

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 “a frequent flier at things like Rosh Hashanah services and would always come and light the Hanukkah candles on the first night,” Small, who served on Hillel’s executive board, recalled.

Small, who described the encampment as “a gathering” that was not disruptive like on other campuses, said she feels “70 percent positive, 30 percent negative” about how Mnookin handled protests and her relationship with Jews on campus.

“She did what she could and she showed up for the Jewish community in ways I was impressed by,” said Small. “She did not stop coming to Rosh Hashanah even though she was under flak from Jewish students and parents.” 

“I’m excited for her to be at Columbia,” continued Small. “I didn’t 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’s. I think she’ll be good there. It will be good for Columbia to have a Jewish leader.”   

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.

Mnookin’s 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 “period of turmoil” 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, which included physical intimidation of Jewish students. 

Katrina Armstrong, who briefly replaced Shafik, abruptly stepped down in March 2025 as the school faced pressure and funding cuts from the Trump administration over antisemitism allegations.

Claire Shipman, Armstong’s successor and the current interim president, struck a deal with the government to restore funding. She also faced scrutiny — and later apologized — for leaked text messages where she suggested that a Jewish trustee should be removed from the university’s board over her pro-Israel advocacy.

Hillel directors at Wisconsin and Columbia both expressed support for Mnookin in statements on Monday.  

“Mnookin has been an outstanding friend and partner to UW Hillel, and she has consistently and thoughtfully supported our students,” said Greg Steinberger, CEO and president of UW Hillel. “Her 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.”

Brian Cohen, executive director of the Kraft Center for Jewish Life, Columbia’s Hillel, said, “the 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.”

Judea Pearl, a professor of computer science at UCLA — where Mnookin served as law school dean from 2015-2022 — was also supportive of Columbia’s new hire, calling Mnookin a “good choice” in a post on X.  

Mnookin will begin her tenure on July 1.