Free Republic

Five years ago, in March 2020, Yale sociologist and physician Nicholas Christakis MD, PhD, MPH took to Twitter to marvel at China’s response to SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind Covid-19. In a detailed thread, he described China’s “social nuclear weapon” (of the people-clearing ‘neutron bomb’ -variety?): unprecedented lockdowns, movement restrictions on 930 million people, and a collectivist culture harnessed by an authoritarian regime. He framed it as a Newtonian feat: the sheer force required to stop the virus revealed its power. Contrast this with Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, MA (economics): equally credentialed, but clear-eyed (the French term is “clairvoyant”),...

Half a century ago, student activists liberated themselves—partly, at least—from in loco parentis: the paternalistic notion that college administrators should serve as watchful guardians, restricting students’ activities and rights in order to provide a safe environment for them, the way a mother or father would. Today, students across the country are determined to undo this liberation. At Yale University, a group of aggrieved minority students have demanded the resignations of administrators who wisely rejected calls for emotional coddling. Nicholas Christakis, the master of Yale’s Silliman College, and his wife, Erika Christakis, an early childhood educator at Yale, conveyed to students...

Erika and Nicholas Christakis are too good for Yale – I recommend they work at Montessori instead I read the email that Erika Christakis sent to Yale students, defending their right to wear Halloween costumes, and, more importantly, their right to think for themselves.I also watched the video where her husband, Nicholas Christakis, behaved with grace and dignity as a Yale student conducted a profanity laden temper tantrum directed at him.The Christakises are too good for Yale. I recommend that they become Montessori teachers. They deserve to work at a real school that values intellectual freedom and independent thinking, and which...

This video shows the moment dozens of students encircled a Yale University official and screamed at him for sending an email telling them to ignore people dressed in offensive Halloween costumes. Nicholas Christakis, the master of Silliman College at Yale, was surrounded after telling students to allow others to exercise free speech by wearing what they wanted on Halloween. He was shouted down as he tried to explain why he believed students should be able to wear what they want, with one young woman yelling at him and telling him to 'shut the f*** up'. The email - sent by...