Ah, Yale. Prestigious Ivy League University. In addition to five American presidents and many foreign heads of state, its storied halls have been trod by authors and artists such as Sinclair Lewis, Tom Wolfe, William F. Buckley, Paul Newman, Meryl Streep, Cole Porter, and many others whose lives embodied free expression.

But now at Yale, free expression just might be on its way out, courtesy of twenty-something students who experienced profound emotional trauma due to Halloween costumes. Yes, Halloween costumes — frivolous things that when I was younger were pretty much limited to children. Except in this case these Yale students are acting just like children. Oh, the irony.

Just prior to Halloween, a dean from Yale’s Intercultural Affairs Council sent an email to Yale’s undergraduate student body, requesting that students be “thoughtful” (read, politically correct) about the type of costumes they chose to celebrate Halloween. Responding to what she felt were demands rather than mere recommendations, Associate Master of Yale’s Silliman College, Erika Christakis, did the unthinkable: she stood up for free expression. Part of her emailed response read:

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? 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.

All hell broke loose.

Over 700 undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and alumni signed on to an open letter, claiming that Christakis’s “offensive” email invalidated minority students. An open forum was held to discuss “institutional racism” that allegedly exists at Yale. While Erika Christakis and her husband Nicholas Christakis — who serves as Master of Silliman College — invited angry students to a lunch scheduled for Sunday, the invitation was condemned, with one student contending that Christakis “needs to stop instigating debate.”

How’s that for free speech on campus?

Then there were the protests. Watch how unhinged students tear into Nicholas Christakis — remember now, this was about Halloween costumes.

No, college should not be that place where young adults are exposed to new concepts and new people — the college experience of my youth. Rather it should be a cocoon, according to an op-ed written by an angry Yalie, entitled “Hurt at Home:”

As a Silimander, I feel that my home is being threatened. Last week, Erika Christakis, the associate master of Silliman College, sent an email to the Silliman community that called an earlier entreaty for Yalies to be more sensitive about culturally appropriating Halloween costumes a threat to free speech. In the aftermath of the email, I saw my community divide. She did not just start a political discourse as she intended. She marginalized many students of color in what is supposed to be their home. But more disappointing than the original email has been the response of Christakis and her husband, Silliman Master Nicholas Christakis. They have failed to acknowledge the hurt and pain that such a large part of our community feel. They have again and again shown that they are committed to an ideal of free speech, not to the Silliman community.

It goes on.

But, in his ten weeks as a leader of the college, Master Christakis has not fostered this sense of community. He seems to lack the ability, quite frankly, to put aside his opinions long enough to listen to the very real hurt that the community feels. He doesn’t get it. And I don’t want to debate. I want to talk about my pain.

She snivels:

I have had to watch my friends defend their right to this institution. This email and the subsequent reaction to it have interrupted their lives. I have friends who are not going to class, who are not doing their homework, who are losing sleep, who are skipping meals, and who are having breakdowns. I feel drained. And through it all, Christakis has shown that he does not consider us a priority. (boldface mine).

Once again, remember that this is all about Halloween costumes.

Now that Halloween is over, Christmas will soon be upon us. Perhaps the parents of these pathetic brats should present them with these specialized headphones as gifts:

Better yet, perhaps these parents should yank their ungrateful offspring from the hallowed halls of Yale University until they can discard their cocoons and put on their big boy and big girl pants.