At UConn School of Medicine, the incoming class of 2028 was required to recite an oath that promises to “actively support policies that promote social justice and specifically work to dismantle policies that perpetuate inequities, exclusion, discrimination and racism.”
That oath has been recited by first-year UConn med students since 2022 during their White Coat Ceremony. That special and memorable day marks the beginning of their journey through medical school or dental school.
Ross Marchand, an attorney for Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, tells AFN it is “completely okay” for a medical school to write its own version of the famous Hippocratic Oath.
“What's not okay is forcing students to say things that they don't believe in,” he stresses. “What you're doing is you're forcing students to choose between their career and their belief.”
In the UConn oath, words such as “equity” rather than “equality” and “social justice” versus “justice” are telltale signs the traditional Hippocratic Oath has been hijacked by left-wing ideology.
Critics of such Orwellian language will not be surprised the oath can be traced to UConn faculty and a “Diversity Committee.” Emails obtained by the group Do Not Harm show the push for a new oath began in 2020 from Dr. Clara Weinstock, a med school professor.
It then underwent revisions in 2021 with a goal that future physicians promise to advanc “social justice” and “anti-racism,” which FIRE says makes them more like political activists than a surgeon, family physicians, or emergency room doctor.
Marchand says FIRE advised UConn in January its controversial oath was likely violating the First Amendment rights of medical school students. The attorneys at FIRE were assured by the medical school the oath is voluntary and is not required.
However, Weinstock, the med school professor, told The College Fix the updated version of the oath takes a more "anti-racist" perspective than previous versions. The first-year med students, she said, are pledging to address "health-care disparities" and address "historical wrongs" that have been committed by the medical profession, she said.
