Head of Columbia University to Resign

George Rupp, who brought major changes to Columbia University, told a meeting of school trustees Saturday that he plans to resign as president.

Rupp, 58, who assumed the leadership of Columbia in July 1993, will step down in the summer of 2002.

“I have decided that the next year will be my last,” Rupp said. “I am announcing my intention to resign now in order to allow time for an orderly transition.”

Rupp, who had served as president of Rice University and as dean of Harvard Divinity School before coming to Columbia, indicated that he was considering returning to teaching and possibly staying at the university’s Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan.

Rupp had a mandate when the trustees selected him as Columbia’s 18th president. The university faced budget problems. It wanted a manager who could help strengthen and focus its faculties, forge cooperative programs between departments and schools and improve relations with the neighborhood surrounding the school’s main campus.

Desire also existed to raise the national and international profile of the New York City-based member of the Ivy League. “George accomplished everything the trustees hoped for and more,” said Stephen Friedman, the board’s chairman. “The university is in great shape and has strong momentum.”

Under Rupp, 159 new named professorships were established, and a number of centers bringing together disciplines from various academic departments were created. These include the Earth Institute, the Columbia Genome Center and the Center for Biomedical Engineering.

Academic exchange programs were forged with a number of institutions overseas, including Tokyo University and the Free University of Berlin.

Fund-raising flourished. In December, Columbia completed a $2.84-billion campaign. A major building program was also undertaken.

The core curriculum required for all undergraduates, which examines the intellectual foundations of Western civilization, was broadened to include other cultures.

The timing of Rupp’s resignation did not come as a surprise to the trustees or others who had spoken with him over the years. He had conceptualized his university presidency as lasting about a decade.

“For years, George told us that right about now was when he expected he would like to retire,” Friedman said. “When he told us he wanted to stay with that plan, we, nevertheless, tried to prevail upon him to extend his time. In the end, we reluctantly accepted his decision.”

Although he said he had no definite plans, he told the trustees he would welcome the opportunity to teach and write. “Should I remain at Columbia, I would especially enjoy teaching, among other courses contemporary civilization in the core curriculum,” he said. “But at this point, I will not rule out other options that might develop in the course of the coming year.”

Rupp said he would not assume the presidency of another university, explaining that by the time he leaves office he will have served for a quarter of a century as either a dean or a university president.