海角大神

When Erika Christakis resigned her teaching post at Yale on Monday, she gently expressed her frustration with the current state of 鈥渃ivil dialogue and open inquiry鈥� at one of the most esteemed institutions of higher learning in the nation.

This past October, Ms. Christakis, a traditional 鈥渕aster鈥� at one of Yale鈥檚 residential colleges and a part-time instructor of early childhood psychology, to the Yale administration鈥檚 suggestion that students refrain from dressing in Halloween costumes that might be deemed culturally insensitive.

Her words, however, and in many ways the very idea of 鈥渃ivil dialogue and open inquiry鈥� on campus, have been swept into the vortex of an angry student protest movement. Minority students and others, joined by faculty members as well, have not only aggressively challenged campus expressions they see as glib, demeaning, and sometimes downright racist, they have also demanded the removal of the honored names of slaveholders and racists on campus buildings.

And in the case of Christakis and her husband,

The depth of these students鈥� anger and frustration has stunned many administrators and professors. And in public reactions, these students often have been characterized as naive, and perhaps even dangerous 鈥渟ocial justice warriors鈥� bent on bringing down the hallowed traditions of open debate, a bedrock principle in the European West.

Yet while such student demands have been dismissed as a banal 鈥減olitical correctness鈥� run amok, the current cultural clashes on campus have actually brought a more nuanced and even 鈥渙pen鈥� discussion of the experiences of black Americans throughout history 鈥� including their pain and anger at forgotten, or glossed over, horrors that reverberate to the present day.

鈥淭he rage has always been there,鈥� says Randal Jelks, professor of African American studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. 鈥淟et鈥檚 call it what it is. In America, it鈥檚 always been there 鈥� it鈥檚 lied under the surface, and students are pulling the covers back, that鈥檚 all.鈥�

Emboldened by the larger Black Lives Matter movement and its success in bringing attention to what they see as gross inequities in the nation鈥檚 law enforcement system, student protesters have turned their attention to campus symbols 鈥� and even those demands that they express their grievances civilly, or discuss these issues within the safety of abstraction and theory.

鈥淎cademia is built on the expectation 鈥� the hope 鈥� that by applying these abstractions to reality, mankind can evolve,鈥� . 鈥淏y generating a conception of what our world could be, we believe, we might defy the status quo, buck the momentum of centuries of flawed civilization and move in a different direction.

鈥淭he rhetoric of student protesters across the country this fall has taken on the life or death tenor befitting such an endeavor,鈥� she adds.

At Princeton last month, protesters set upon the important, and perhaps even essential, legacy of Woodrow Wilson at the Ivy League bastion. The nation鈥檚 28th president and one of the critical architects of modern liberalism, was not simply a genteel racist of his day, , but in many ways a vicious white supremacist, an ardent eugenicist, and a president who dismantled many of the economic gains of the growing black middle class at the time.

At Yale, students are demanding the renaming of the resident college honoring John Calhoun, the eloquent, slave-owning politician from South Carolina whose state鈥檚-rights political theories undergird secessionist ideas and informed the politics of white supremacy.

Georgetown changed the names of two buildings after students made similar demands, and Princeton and Harvard stopped using the title of 鈥渕aster,鈥� an old shortened form of schoolmaster, to refer to the heads of resident colleges. Each of these expressions, the students have argued, ignore the effects of history on minority lives today 鈥� and are themselves uncivil.

鈥淲e think people making complaints are just being unnecessarily sensitive, and I think that鈥檚 sometimes wrong,鈥� says Professor Jelks. 鈥淚n discussions about what is 鈥楶C,鈥� oftentimes, as a minority person, I feel like that鈥檚 a hidden way of saying, 鈥業 get to say what I want about you, but your complaints are just 鈥楶C.鈥欌��

Caught in the crossfire, however, have been administrators and scholars like Christakis.

Traditionally reasoned and expressed with both caveats and a recognition of the points the Yale administration鈥檚 suggestions about Halloween costumes were trying to make, Christakis worried about the social control these suggestions implied.

鈥淚 wonder, and I am not trying to be provocative: 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?鈥� she in October.

In , one student unleashed a torrent of profanity at her husband, Nicholas Christakis, who was trying to defend the idea of free expression after his wife鈥檚 e-mail to students. 鈥淚t is not about creating an intellectual space!鈥� the student said. 鈥淚t is not! Do you understand that? It is about creating a home here!鈥�

Afterward, Mr. Christakis defended the student, , 鈥淣o one, especially no students exercising right to speech, should be judged just on basis of short video clip.鈥�

Neither Christakis will be teaching during the spring semester 鈥� Nicholas Christakis is taking a sabbatical.

"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," Erika Christakis said, according to The Washington Post.

In a statement, Yale said that Christakis's decision was voluntary and she was welcome to teach again in the future.

鈥淓rika Christakis is a well-regarded instructor, and the university鈥檚 leadership is disappointed that she has chosen not to continue teaching in the spring semester,鈥� the statement said. 鈥淗er 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.鈥�