Colombia Medical Students Say Hippocratic Oath Pledging To Woke Ideology

The 2025 Columbia Medical School class decided to modify the Hippocratic Oath administered at the August White Coat Ceremony, with the new version pledging to “acknowledge and embrace the diversity that exists within all communities.”

“The 140 members of the Class of 2025 were welcomed into the profession of medicine at August’s White Coat Ceremony with the usual traditions but with one twist: The class decided to write and recite a new class oath that updated the Hippocratic Oath usually recited each year,” Columbus Medicine Magazine reported.

With an abundance of progressive vocabulary commonly utilized by the left, the new oath raises questions about the boundary between medicine and political ideologies.

“We enter the profession of medicine with appreciation for the opportunity to build on the scientific and humanistic achievements of the past. We also recognize the acts and systems of oppression affected in the name of medicine. We take this oath of service to begin building a future grounded in truth, restoration, and equity to fulfill medicine’s capacity to liberate,” a woman said as she read the oath in front of a group of students. The lady and postgraduates alike were all wearing masks.

A user who shared the clip on social media offered his own reaction to the oath, asking, “When did medicine start sounding like a cult?”

“I promise to take care of my future patients by engaging in dialogue, listening to their lived experience, and tailoring my recommendations to their unique circumstances,” the oath continued.

“I acknowledge the past and present failures of medicine to abide by its obligation to do no harm and affirm the need to address systemic issues in the institutions I uphold,” read the oath, before it then stressed a political view of fighting against perceived societal harms. “I promise to critically examine the systems and experiences that impact every person’s health and ability to receive care. I vow to use this knowledge to uplift my patients and disrupt the injustices that harm them as I forge the future of medicine.

“I promise to self-reflect diligently, to confront unconscious prejudices, and to develop the skills, knowledge, and character necessary to engender an inclusive, equitable field of medicine.”

According to the user who shared the above Twitter video, students were the ones who demanded the modifications seen in the new oath.

Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow and American journalist Christopher Rufo, who is well-known for his extensive reporting on critical race theory, reacted to Columbia’s bizarre display on Twitter.

“Columbia University medical students chant the mantra of critical race theory,” Rufo wrote online. “This is the DEI cult in the wild.”

DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion, a leftist framework that among other things seeks to bring certain groups down while propping others up in order to ensure an equal outcome.

This was described in depth by McKinsey & Company, which writes, “Equity differs from equality in a subtle but important way. While equality assumes that all people should be treated the same, equity takes into consideration a person’s unique circumstances, adjusting treatment accordingly so that the end result is equal.”

Previously, Rufo shared a clip in Oct. 2022 featuring a similar and arguably more extreme oath delivered at the University of Minnesota, commenting, “They are being inducted in the cult of CRT.”

Included in the pledge was a promise to battle “white supremacy, colonialism, [and] the gender binary.”

Rufo pointed out that the man reciting the oath is Dr. Robert Englander, who serves as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Englander has a decorated academic background, featuring numerous ‘prestigious’ endeavors, including an MD from Yale Medical School and a fellowship he did with Harvard.

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