海角大神

A Yale professor who听argued for students鈥� right to wear culturally insensitive Halloween costumes听and triggered outcry on campus has announced her intentions to resign from teaching at the university.

The issue began last October, when the university鈥檚 Intercultural Affairs Committee sent out an email to students instructing them to avoid wearing racially insensitive costumes for Halloween such as Native American headdresses, turbans, or blackface.

In response, Erika听Christakis wrote an email to students living in the Silliman College听residence where she was an administrator, arguing that students should be allowed and even encouraged to wear costumes, even if it is offensive.

"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?" she 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."

The e-mail triggered an outcry among some minority students and others, and many demanded Ms. Christakis, also a lecturer on early childhood development and her husband, fellow Silliman master Nicholas Christakis, step down.

On Nov. 9 dozens of students marched in protest against听what they see as racial insensitivity at the Ivy League school.

The protests came amid a backdrop of unrest on campuses across the country, political correctness, and handling of racial complaints.

Some critics have expressed concerns that cultural sensitivities may have gone too far on campus, as听海角大神 reported听last month:

But many of the student鈥檚 expressions also shifted the conversation to another debate: whether college campuses are becoming 鈥減laces of censure and prohibition.鈥�

As Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic听: 鈥淚t ought to be disputed rather than indulged for the sake of these students, who need someone to teach them how empowered they are by virtue of their mere enrollment; that no one is capable of invalidating their existence, full stop; that their worth is inherent, not contingent; that everyone is offended by things around them; that they are capable of tremendous resilience鈥︹��

The fundamental issue is plotting that point at which offense becomes unacceptably invasive to others, and that is a target that moves as society changes.

In July, Northwestern University professor Laura Kipnis, who writes about gender identity and sexual politics, was investigated after a sexual discrimination complaint was filed against her following 听she wrote about student-professor relationships.

The Monitor reported in July,听

But 鈥渇ree and unfettered鈥� speech is increasingly coming up against a new generation of students, some of whom have an expectation that they have a right not to read or hear ideas that differ from their worldview or make them uncomfortable.

What began in the 1990s as political correctness 鈥� a desire not to offend others 鈥� has now morphed into what one academic observer calls 鈥渆mpathetic correctness鈥� 鈥� a desire never to be offended. Even celebrities have weighed in on the debate, with comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher听saying the environment at college听makes it almost impossible to do their routines without someone becoming upset.

On its website, the university said Christakis decided not to continue teaching in the spring semester.

"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.听

This report contains material from the Associated Press.