U.S.
George Ruhe / AP
A Yale University faculty member who sparked protests when she said students should be free to push boundaries with Halloween costumes, even to the point of offense, resigned from her teaching position, the school announced Monday.
Erika Christakis chose not to continue teaching in the spring semester, the university said on its website.
"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.
Christakis came under attack in October for her response to a request from the Intercultural Affairs Committee that students avoid wearing racially insensitive costumes, such as Native American headgear, turbans or blackface. She wrote in an email to students living in the residence hall where she's an administrator that they should be able to wear any costume they want.
"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."
Christakis email came at a time of widespread campus unrest prompted by concerns about racial and income inequality.
Mounting protests prompted by racial tensions helped force the abrupt resignation of University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe and another top administrator, R. Bowen Loftin.
Her email was one of several incidents on the Yale campus that prompted hundreds of students and faculty members to march in protest on Nov. 9 of what they see as racial insensitivity at the Ivy League school.
The school also has been dealing with criticism over a residential hall named after John Calhoun, a prominent slave-owning politician, questions about how minorities are treated on campus and allegations that a woman was turned away from a fraternity party because she was not white.
After the march, dozens of faculty members contributed to an open letter showing support for Christakis, who taught courses on child development and psychology.
Al Jazeera and The Associated Press
Mary Spellman, dean of students at Claremont McKenna College, steps down after protests over campus racial concerns
Portraits of several black professors were found vandalized at Harvard Law School; police investigating as hate crime
Tim Wolfe acknowledges the 'frustration and anger' that led to a boycott by black football players is 'real'
Halloween costumes depicting an Israeli soldier and 'Fagin' nose deemed 'highly offensive' by Arab, Muslim groups
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