Howard Dean @GovHowardDean: you are very misinformed in your summary of the @yale 2015 Halloween events in this Dec 2017 panel on free speech @KenyonCollege w @sapinker @HMDatMI & Joe Klesner. 1/
I am sincerely hoping that the explanation for the many falsehoods in your summary of the 2015 Halloween events at our alma mater @yale was not deliberate lying or cravenness by you @GovHowardDean. 2/
I have spent my life in academia, doing research on health inequities; have practiced hospice medicine in underserved & minority communities for many years; been a lifelong liberal (not that this should matter at all here); and served as a “Master" at both Harvard and Yale. 3/
Here is some information to correct these falsehoods in your summary of the Halloween events at Yale (many other records have been archived by @TheFIREorg if you want more information). 4/
Here is a link to my wife’s email. thefire.org/email-from-eri… If you take 5 mins to read it @GovHowardDean, you'll see that nowhere does she say "PC is BS” or “Don’t be a snowflake,” as you say, nor would any fair reading of her email lead a reasonable person to that conclusion. 5/
“The next thing that happened” was not the affirmative march you mentioned, but several other deeply concerning and illiberal events, all based on reckless distortions of the truth, now apparent with much video and other documentary evidence in the public record. 6/
Moreover, as @HMDatMI noted in her more accurate summary of events on the panel, the sexism in holding me responsible for my wife’s email should make you ashamed. Plus, when you said that "no one was attacked,” you're clearly unaware of the breadth of events during the episode 7/
Here are my wife’s only public remarks about the events, with more information here, if you want, about the circumstances we faced: washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-ha… 9/
For instance, @GovHowardDean you might wish to look at these videos via @jkirchick and let me know if you think your summary of the events was accurate: tabletmag.com/jewish-news-an… 10/
The march @yale in November 2015 involved 1,000 people, not 2,000 as you noted: yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/11/1… 11/
My wife was not tenured, and lacked that sort of security, despite what you said. Plus, she was the leading donor to @HillaryClinton at Yale (not that this should matter). yaledailynews.com/blog/2016/02/1… She decided to offer her talents elsewhere after what happened. 12/
We in fact finished out our service as Masters until the end of academic year. We saw this as our duty, and we wished to help @yale to avoid the media attention it would have called to Yale (already facing a firestorm of criticism) should we have done otherwise. 13/
I was not the "leader of the Buckley Program,” @BuckleyProgram. I am a lifelong liberal. However, (a) that should not have made any difference, & (b) this program has been phenomenal on free speech issues on campus. I have great respect for many on the Right. You should too. 14/
Why would it be “fitting" for people to "lose their jobs" on a *university* campus, indeed at our alma mater @yale no less, for defending the rights to free expression of all students? That is the whole point of a university. As a Lecturer here, you should know this? 15/
For my defense of free expression on campus and for my only public remarks regarding the events, please listen to my interview with @SamHarrisOrg samharris.org/podcasts/facin… (transcript here: nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/upl… ) @GovHowardDean 16/
My wife @ErikaChristakis and I have defended free expression before, while @harvard for instance, where we came to the defense of minority students: ideas.time.com/2012/12/04/wit… 17/
In short, @GovHowardDean, as you can see, you made several defamatory remarks, all grossly untrue. As you say, this is allowable in the USA (and not the UK). But that should still embarrass you? 18/
Your defense of the heckler’s veto this panel @KenyonCollege as a kind of free speech suggests you may not have thought as deeply about these issues as you should, especially as a former governor and presidential candidate.19/
As @HMDatMI noted, we did indeed write to the students, in a heartfelt way, and reached out in many ways to all our students. But our November 13 letter to which she referred does not strike us as “penitent" (scroll down): nicholaschristakis.net/wp-content/upl… 20/
I am very worried that you @GovHowardDean are a serious contributor to the #fakenews problem so afflicting our democracy at present. Please do better? Correct the record that you are falsifying? 21/
