NEW HAVEN — Almost 50 faculty members at Yale University contributed to an open letter showing support for the embattled master and associate master of a residential college on campus.
The New Haven Register reports the letter states that “as faculty colleagues” the group expresses its strong support of Nicholas and Erika Christakis.
Student backlash against the Christakises began after Erika criticized an Intercultural Affairs Committee email that urged students to be careful in their choice of Halloween costumes. Her husband publicly defended her actions.
Erika’s response asked if there’s no room for young people to be “a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?”
The faculty members wrote in the letter that they stand by Erika’s free speech rights and her reply “clearly does not constitute support for racist expressions.”
