Erika Christakis, a Yale University professor whose comments about offensive costumes Halloween costumes sparked protests on campus in November, resigned from her position, the school announced Monday.
"Her teaching is highly valued and she is welcome to resume teaching anytime at Yale, where freedom of expression and academic inquiry are the paramount principle and practice," the school said on its announcement, according to the Associated Press.
Prior to finding herself at the center of a national debate about free speech and racial sensitivity, the once highly regarded teacher taught courses about child development and psychology as a member of the Yale Child Study Center. However, this fact was largely ignored when she came under attack in October following her response to the Intercultural Affairs Committee which requested that students avoid wearing racially insensitive costumes, such as Native American headgear, turbans or blackface.
She sent an email to Silliman residents, where she is an associate master, questioning the desire to find offense in Halloween costumes, according to FOX News.
"Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious... a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive?" Christakis wrote. "American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience; increasingly, it seems, they have become places of censure and prohibition."
That email soon became one of several incidents on campus that resulted in hundreds of students and faculty marching in protest of racial insensitivity at the school, according to the Washington Post.
While many called for her to resign, others showed Christakis support in an open letter; despite that, however, she felt it was time for her to leave: "I have great respect and affection for my students, but I worry that the current climate at Yale is not, in my view, conducive to the civil dialogue and open inquiry required to solve our urgent societal problems," Christakis wrote in an email.
