Students of the Michigan University Medical School held a strike at the School White Coat Ceremony on Sunday after an anti-abortion doctor went on stage as the main speaker of the event. A video of students who walked out of the ceremony immediately after Dr. Kristin Collier began his speech had beencirculating on social media. The white coat ceremony is a formal event where students are presented with white coats to mark the entry of medical fields.
The clip was distributed on Twitter with the note, “Medical students who entered walked out at the White Coat ceremony of the University of Michigan as the main speaker openly anti-abortion.” This gets more than 2.8 million display in less than 10 hours.The strike by students was not surprising because more than 340 students had signed a petition that opposed the election of Dr. Kristin Collier as the main speaker for the white coat ceremony.
In addition to students who entered, 72 community members including residents of Michigan Medicine, doctors, graduate students and alumni also signed a petition.According to a report by The Michigan Daily, the petition was signed on the basis that Dr. Collier had shared several anti-abortion views on social media and in interviews. “While we support the rights of freedom of speech and religion, an anti-voting speaker as a representative of the University of Michigan damages the university’s position about abortion and supports non-universal platforms that are rooted in theology to limit abortion access, an important matter part of medical care , “The petition rang.
He asked the university to choose the speaker “whose value is in harmony with institutional policies, students, and a wider medical community.”However, a report by the National Review, said Dr. Marshall Runge, the school dean, did not agree to cancel the invitation, quoted “the importance of diversity of thoughts and personal ideas, which is the basis for freedom and academic excellence.”
The university said Dr. Kristin Collier was chosen by the Gold Humanism Honor Society for “his medical qualifications.” It is said that the white coat ceremony will not be used as “forums to air political beliefs or personal religions.”