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For millennia, medical students have taken the Hippocratic Oath, solemnly  to prioritize the well-being of patients and “abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.” But unfortunately, schools such as the University of Connecticut have recently created their own versions of the oath that prioritize politics at the expense of the First Amendment. 

In August, UConn  the incoming class of 2028 to pledge allegiance not simply to patient care, but to support diversity, equity, and inclusion. The revised oath, which was  in 2022, includes a promise to “actively support policies that promote social justice and specifically work to dismantle policies that perpetuate inequities, exclusion, discrimination and racism.” 

This practice is a grave affront to students’ free speech rights. In January, FIREcalled the medical school to confirm that the oath is mandatory; an admissions staff member told us it was. We are asking them to confirm this in writing.  

As a public university, UConn is strictly bound by the First Amendment and cannot compel students to voice beliefs they do not hold. Public institutions have every right to use educational measures to try to address biases they believe stymie the healthcare system. But forcing students to pledge themselves to DEI policies — or any other ideological construct — with which they may disagree is First Amendment malpractice. This is no different than forcing students to pledge their allegiance to a political figure or the American flag. 

When we raised concerns in 2022 about the University of Minnesota Medical School’s oath, which includes affirming that the school is on indigenous land and a vow to fight “white supremacy,” the university confirmed that students were not obligated to recite it.

In the 1943 landmark case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court declared that students could not be made to salute the American flag, saying, “if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” 

Justice Jackson, writing for the majority, emphasized that the First Amendment protects the individual’s “sphere of intellect and spirit” from governmental or institutional control. Just as UConn cannot force its medical students to express support for socialized medicine or vaccination mandates, it cannot compel them to pledge fealty to its preferred set of political principles. 

University of Minnesota Medical School swears off compelled speech in white coat ceremony 

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After FIREcriticized the medical school for appearing to force students to profess political views, the university affirmed the oath was not required.

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More broadly, these nebulous commitments could become de facto professionalism standards, and students could face punishment for failing to uphold them. (After all, they took an oath.) What, exactly, must a medical student do to “support policies that promote social justice”? If a student disagrees with UConn’s definition of “social justice” or chooses not to promote it in the prescribed way, could she be dismissed for violating her oath? 

FIRE has repeatedly seen administrators of professional programs — including medicine, dentistry, law, and mortuary science — deploy ambiguous and arbitrarily defined “professionalism” standards to punish students for otherwise protected speech.

UConn isn’t alone in making such changes to the Hippocratic Oath. Other prestigious medical schools, including those at , , , , and the , have adopted similar oaths in recent years. However, not all schools compel students to recite such oaths. When we raised concerns in 2022 about the University of Minnesota Medical School’s oath, which includes affirming that the school is on indigenous land and a vow to fight “white supremacy,” the university confirmed that students were not obligated to recite it. That’s the very least UConn could do to make clear that it puts medical education — and the law — ahead of politics.