Fewer than half of the students in my medical school class were there when we graduated. It was a place where if you can get up, it is not a foul, and the players eat their own dead—something like an average game of rugby in South Africa. The members of my class were nice men (and four women). It was before the days of women’s lib or decent treatment of minorities. We had a major professor who held the career lives of the students in his hands. He capriciously had students kicked out or held back for such things as having dirty fingernails or for poor attendance on his grand rounds (a subjective determination). Finally, the class ahead of mine had a hit they could not tolerate—even as defenseless as medical students were in those benighted days. The great professor kicked out three students three weeks before graduation, despite all testing having been completed; and all three passed. The medical student class unanimously announced that they would boycott the graduation, an unthinkable scandal for the university and the public of Utah. The professor fought back. He said it didn’t matter; none of the students would get their medical degrees that year. Too bad for them. The nurses—love the nurses—then announced that none of them would attend their graduation or accept their diplomas.
The University of Utah Faculty Association stepped in and carried out a quick but thorough investigation of charges of cruelty and capriciousness on the part of the famous professor for the past twenty years. It was determined that the students were right. The professor was removed from the admissions committee and the graduation committee, thereby emasculating his power. It was also discovered that the man was Jewish and had brought in a large number of very well known and very significant Jewish professors. That was not an issue; in fact, it was a plus. However, in the course of his tenure on the admissions committee, he actively discriminated against Mormon applicants—members of the most populous church in the state, and a significant percentile of the general population. He also used his power to prevent hiring of Mormon professors and to prevent already present Mormon faculty from gaining tenure and promotions. He was then removed from his place on the all-powerful faculty association committee. Graduation took place with all medical students and all nurses attending in the usual colorful and grand ceremony. The professor was conspicuous by his absence, and future classes had a far less attrition rate.
I graduated the following year; but, in another blog, I need to tell you how it came to be that I was interested in neurosurgery from my freshman year forward.
I have a question: how much power should a university, a faculty, or a given professor have over the success or failure of any or all students. How much power should a university or a professional school or the state and federal government, for that matter, have over the gender, race, or creed ratios in the student body? I do have strong societal, philosophical, and socio/political opinions about such things and more; and I do not flinch from discussing them in my novels. Any comments?