To the YSM Community:
On August 5, we marked the “start” of the academic year with the White Coat Ceremony for the incoming Class of 2028.
We begin this academic year during a time of uncertainty, stress, and polarization regarding events in the world and in our own country. During this time, it is important to reaffirm our principles. Vice President for University Life and Secretary Kimberly Goff-Crews recently sent a message regarding the University’s commitment to free expression and intolerance of discrimination and harassment. The Vice President of University Life and Secretary shared a website that consolidates policies on free expression and peaceable assembly: https://secretary.yale.edu/free-expression-yale. The 1974 Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale (the “Woodward Report”) conveys Yale’s policy on free expression.
Freedom of expression is sometimes conflated with academic freedom, but the two differ in ways that relate to our obligation to provide a robust and productive learning environment. Thus, the American Association of University Professors, forceful advocates for academic rights, notes in its Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure: “Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.” A student or faculty member in Yale School of Medicine who attends a seminar or lecture in the basic sciences or grand rounds on a clinical topic, for example, should have the reasonable expectation that topic will not wander into the speaker’s personal views on current events. Those conversations can and should go on in other settings consistent with the university policies on free expression. When the specific subject of a seminar or lecture touches on controversial topics or areas for which there is not a clear scientific underpinning, it is paramount that faculty and students engage in civil discourse and feel able to express their opinions without sanction.
As members of a school of medicine, we have additional obligations. Those engaged in clinical care commit to being present to our patients even when it is not convenient or there are competing events. We commit to caring for all patients regardless of their beliefs; we engender the trust of patients by treating them with respect as individuals and listening to their experiences. Patient-centered care requires that we provide advice based on the best rigorously tested peer-reviewed scientific evidence available and that we exercise restraint in expressing our personal views in the clinical setting. Outside the clinical setting, we enjoy the same rights of free expression as all citizens. Because we represent the profession of medicine, however, we must distinguish when we are expressing opinion, informed by our own expertise, and when we are presenting peer-reviewed scientific evidence.
During the recent White Coat Ceremony our students took a pledge “to communicate effectively, respectfully, and compassionately, and to conduct [ourselves] in accordance with professional and ethical standards” and they vowed “to recognize the influence of our biases and to challenge ourselves.” Let us all exemplify this behavior as we engage with each other and educate leaders in medicine and science, advance discovery, and improve the health of all.
Sincerely,
Nancy J. Brown, MD
Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Medicine
C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine