There’s a video of a Silliman resident mopping up the ‘Erika what’s good?’ chalk messages
‘They don’t deserve this’
In the early hours of this morning, Naivasha Harris (Silliman College ’16) posted a video of a man mopping the paths in the Silliman courtyard.
The student being filmed, Peter Gerson (Silliman College ’17) was wiping away chalk messages which included “Erika, what’s good?” and “Just look away”, referring to Erika Christakis and the college.
Posting on Overheard at Yale, Peter claims he left the messages “Our culture is not a costume” and “We don’t feel safe here” untouched.
Watch the full video here:
Naivasha asks Peter what he’s doing, to which he responds: “I’m washing away slanderous messages.
“I’m mopping the messages that are accusing people who are living here of being threatened with their own safety.”
The argument between the two heats up when Naivasha’s friend (not shown in the video) says: “Do you know there are Silliman freshmen who are afraid of sleeping in their own beds?”
“I think that is completely undocumented,” Peter replies.
She responds: “You wouldn’t know because you’re a white male with privilege, so you don’t know what it’s like to be a woman of color on this campus.”
Peter is joined by two students with whom he is unaffiliated, who shout: “We’re not trying to talk to you right now! We’re just trying to drink our milk.”
This comes after a heated exchange earlier this week when students confronted Professor Nicholas Christakis in the Silliman courtyard.
In an extraordinary outburst since picked up by the national media, one student shouted at him: “Why the fuck did you accept the position? Who the fuck hired you?
“You should step down! If that is what you think of being headmaster, you should step down! It is not about creating an intellectual space! It is not!
“You should not sleep at night! You’re disgusting!”
Another student adds: “He doesn’t deserve to be listened to.”
The controversy began when Erika Christakis sent an email to students about Halloween costumes saying: “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?
“Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young people? It’s not mine, I know that.”
This comes in the same week as a student claimed her friends were turned away from an SAE party because it was “white girls only”.