What is happening to medical students?

Shouting down speakers reaches the University of Chicago

I was sent a video this week from a presentation at the University of Chicago Medical School— my alma matter—given by the American Medical Association (AMA) president. In it, several students shout down the speaker. Let’s talk about it.

To be clear: I am no fan of the AMA. I think many of their policies and lobbying are counterproductive. Second, I am not going to solve the crisis in the middle east in this post. Instead, my interest here is (1) how medical students behave towards a guest speaker (2) the Medical School leadership that fosters this and (3) what this means going forward.

Step 1: watch the video. In it, several students shout at the AMA president because the AMA has not issued a statement supporting Palestine. Watch it

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Step 2: Can we all agree? If the AMA puts out the statement the students want literally NOTHING will be different in the middle east. Statements made by American organizations will not change the course of the war. Neither Netanyahu or Hamas is going to read the statement. Does anyone actually think a statement by the AMA will change anything?

Step 2 corollary: Can we also agree that the students yelling at the AMA president to write a letter that does nothing will also do NOTHING to help the health care workers in Palestine.

Step 3: (side point) why are all the students shouting & holding signs also wearing masks? The answer is that is how political polarization has destroyed us. Being a far left liberal means holding views supportive of Palestine AND holding the view that long covid is bad, and masking helps, etc, etc. This is a package deal. If you are a far left liberal you have to hold all these views. Bundling views like this is part of the problem of modern polarization. There is no room to have mixed views.

Step 4: It is an interesting question to ask: Should the AMA issue a statement on the war? I think U Chicago should debate it. Someone should argue for a statement A, someone for statement B, and someone for no statement. I bet the person arguing no statement will win because doubt any statement will change the course of the war, and all statements will upset some portion of American doctors. How does that help the AMA keep their coalition? if the students want, they should hold such a debate.

Step 5: It strikes me as bold to stand up and shout at at the AMA president. Even the AMA president can’t unilaterally issue statements without committees and lawyers. Moreover, he has come to talk about other topics. Most of the audience looks like they don’t want to talk about Palestine right now, and I know many people are annoyed that the students are sucking the oxygen out of the room, and they can’t ask questions that they are interest in.

Step 6: When I was a student, no one would do this in medical school. Half the faculty and deans would rip you apart for such an outburst. You might be suspended, but at a minimum, someone would certainly tell you “this is not the venue for this”. But more to the point, most of my colleagues didn’t have this attitude that protesting speakers makes the world a better place. I remember vividly a passionate student who gently asked tough questions to an administrator, but that was it.

Step 7: What makes this happen? I don’t blame the students for their passion. I blame the leadership of the school. When medical student leadership constantly post and tweet about political issues, including making direct political recommendations, naturally students think this is a good thing. Medical student leadership has forgotten that the goal of medical education is to teach people to be doctors and not political advocates. Moreover, they tolerate this behavior. Each year, they allow more and more protests. Next time, the protest will be louder.

Finally, medical school leadership lacks the courage to invite courageous speakers and foster debate. There were zero debates on school closure, lockdown, or masking toddlers at the University of Chicago. The Deans of U Chicago didn’t have the courage to show students that we can debate hard topics insider medicine. If the university won’t debate the most impactful policy decisions of the twentieth century because they are scared some students will protest, they just lean in to the culture of protest.

Step 8: My career has had a lot of advocacy. I think cancer drugs cost too much. I think drug approval is too lax. I think masking 2 year olds is mentally ill and harmful policy. I have published hundreds of papers and op-eds arguing for these things. I support advocacy, but I have never shouted at a speaker I didn’t agree with. I just spent a lot of time thinking about how to outsmart them. And when I was a medical student, I spent most of my time trying to learn medicine; I worry students have forgotten this.

What do you think? Do you support the students? Disagree with them? Where did this culture come from? Where are we going in medicine?

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