If Minnesota medical students get their way, the Hippocratic oath that doctors take might change. Their new pledge means that Minnesota medical students must “honor all Indigenous ways of healing historically marginalized by Western medicine.” This change would mean that Native American communities in the United States will finally get respect from Western medical students who go through years of schooling in order to become doctors.
The medical students at the University of Minnesota took an updated pledge which showed their respect for Indigenous communities and also vowed to fight against “white supremacy, colonialism, gender binary, ableism and all forms of oppression.”
On August 19, 2022, at the ceremony which was held via video call, students heard Dr. Robert Englander recite the updated pledge so that they could repeat it after him. As Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, Pledge serves an important role in setting standards for upholdable behavior.
Christofer Rufo, who is extremely critical of race theory, discovered the updated pledge. He immediately criticized it as an example of America’s “wokeness.” Rufo tweeted about the video from Tuesday’s ceremony and followed up his commentary on Wednesday by writing:
“The most incredible thing about this clip is that the doctor almost certainly doesn’t believe in what he’s saying. But he submits anyway—because the institutional powers now require otherwise intelligent people to falsify their own beliefs and repeat the left-wing copypasta.”
Dr. Englander and his colleagues revised the pledge due to the University of Minnesota’s location on Dakota land. As many Native American people still reside here, despite white Americans seizing the land long ago.
Dr. Englander stated, “this acknowledgment is not enough,” and it is necessary that the students at the university be able to “recognize inequities built by past and present traumas rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, the gender binary, ableism, and all forms of oppression.”
At the University of Minnesota, students pledge to commit themselves “to promoting a culture of antiracism, listening and amplifying voices for positive change” and to honor “all indigenous ways of healing that have been historically marginalized by western medicine.”
Medical students attending the Minnesota school also promised to “embody cultural humility” and to agree “that patients are the experts of their bodies.”
The updated pledge ended with the following words: “We are honored to accept these white coats.”
The school shared an updated pledge with the following statement: “In light of their legacy as a symbol of power, prestige, and dominance, we strive to reclaim their identity as a symbol of responsibility, humility, and loving-kindness.”
The new pledge has sparked anger in some, who now say they will never see a doctor from the University of Minnesota for medical treatment.
