Statement by Yale University on Nicholas and Erika Christakis

Nicholas and Erika Christakis will continue in their respective roles as master and associate master of Silliman College, with the full support of the Yale University leadership. Contrary to some reports in the media, neither of them has resigned from any form of employment at the university.
 
Erika Christakis, lecturer in the Child Study Center, is a well-regarded instructor whose teaching is highly valued. Although she has chosen not to teach her classes in the spring term, she is welcome to resume teaching anytime at Yale — where freedom of expression and academic inquiry are the paramount principle and practice — and has the encouragement of the university administration to do so. Nicholas Christakis, the Sol Goldman Family Professor of Social and Natural Science, with appointments in sociology, ecology and evolutionary biology, biomedical engineering, and medicine, is taking a scheduled leave from part of his teaching duties in the spring semester. His appointment as college master will be uninterrupted, and he will continue his work as co-director of the Yale Institute for Network Science and director of the Human Nature Lab.
 
The Christakises are deeply valued members of the university community, and Yale looks forward to their ongoing contributions as scholars, educators, and citizens.