Dozens of medical college students attending the College of Michigan walked out of a ceremony over the weekend in protest of a keynote speaker who opposes abortion.
Dr. Kristin Collier, an assistant professor of medication, spoke on the Sunday white coat ceremony, an occasion during which new medical college students are welcomed and given a lab coat. Earlier than the ceremony, greater than 340 incoming and present College of Michigan medical college students signed a petition opposing Collier because the keynote speaker, in keeping with The Michigan Day by day.
The petition states: “This isn’t merely a disagreement on private opinion; by way of our demand we’re standing up in solidarity towards teams who’re attempting to remove human rights and prohibit medical care.”
Collier has shared her opinion about abortion publicly.
“Holding on to a view of feminism the place one fights for the rights of all ladies and women, particularly those that are most susceptible. I can’t not lament the violence directed at my prenatal sisters within the act of abortion, finished within the title of autonomy,” she shared on social media earlier this yr.
Mary Masson, director of public relations at Michigan Medication, stated in a press release to USA TODAY that the ceremony “just isn’t a platform for dialogue of controversial points.”
“Its focus will all the time be on welcoming college students into the career of medication. Dr. Collier by no means deliberate to handle a divisive subject as a part of her remarks,” she added. “Nonetheless, the College of Michigan doesn’t revoke an invite to a speaker based mostly on their private beliefs.”
Video of scholars strolling out of the ceremony has been considered greater than 13 million instances on social media.
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Collier was chosen because the speaker by members of the medical faculty’s Gold Humanism Honor Society, which is made up of medical college students, school and others, Masson confirmed.
This isn’t the primary time in latest weeks feedback on abortion from College of Michigan staff have garnered consideration. Michigan soccer coach Jim Harbaugh final week spoke at an anti-abortion occasion and mentioned opposing abortion.
The Supreme Court docket final month overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark choice that made abortion authorized nationwide, and dominated that there is no such thing as a constitutional proper to abortion.
Contributing: Related Press