The resignations follow a controversy that began in October 2015 about a campus debate surrounding Halloween.

FIRE reports.

Yale Faculty Resign From Residential College Roles; Concerns about Free Speech Remain

Late yesterday, master of Yale University’s Silliman College Nicholas Christakis and his wife, associate master Erika Christakis, resigned from their Silliman College duties to pursue academic work full time.

In a statement posted to Twitter, Nicholas wrote:

My wife, Erika, and I have devoted our professional lives to advocating for the well being of all young people. While we cherish the years we have spent living among undergraduates, both at Harvard and at Yale, and while we remain faithful to our confidence in Yale students, we have decided that it is time to return full-time to our respective fields of public health and early childhood education.

The resignations follow a controversy that began in October 2015 when Erika sent an email to Silliman students weighing in on a campus debate surrounding Halloween. Her email questioned whether an earlier statement from Yale administrators about Halloween costumes represented an intrusion into students’ autonomy and their ability to govern their own expressive activity, free from implied administrative control.