UPDATE: Free speech watchdog sends letter to medical school challenging woke white coat ceremony oath

Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sent a letter to the school condemning the oath after medical students at the University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS) pledged to “[uproot] the legacy and perpetuation of structural violence deeply embedded within the healthcare system.”

The letter was sent to UMMS Dean Jakub Toler on Oct. 13, opening with concerns about the oath students recited at the Aug. 19 white coat ceremony, which Campus Reform previously reported. 

“[FIRE] is concerned that incoming University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS) students may be required to affirm contested political viewpoints in violation of their First Amendment rights against compelled speech,” the letter stated. 

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FIRE’s letter also contained the full text of the oath, which compelled students to “recognize inequities built by past and present traumas rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, the gender binary, ableism, and all forms of oppression.”

“While UMMS may encourage students to adopt these views,” FIRE wrote, “the First Amendment bars the university from requiring them to do so.”

In the letter, FIRE further explained that requiring students to uphold a medical standard was within reason of the university’s purview, forcing students to “vow or commit” to political ideology would violate students’ right to freedom of expression and goes against the university purpose of being a “bastion of free inquiry.”

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The letter concluded with FIRE calling on the medical school to “make clear that students may refuse to say [the oath] without penalty.” FIRE also stated that those students must be made aware that they do not “have to affirm any political viewpoints as a condition of their continued education.” 

FIRE’s Senior Program Director Zach Greenberg told Campus Reform that free speech gives students the right to choose whether or not they speak. 

“Universities committed to free speech cannot force students to profess belief in contested political viewpoints,” Greenberg stated. “Students must be free to opt out of university-mandated pledges to fight for social justice, for example.”

Greenberg also reiterated the demand letter’s point that universities must “ensure” students that their education will not suffer if they were to refuse to say the oath. 

Campus Reform contacted UM, FIRE, and Dean Tolar and will update this article accordingly. 

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