Special kudos are due to Canada’s Dalhousie University Medical School. It has gone beyond the at least marginally defensible statue-toppling fad on the U.S. Left that stripped much of the country of past art erected to honor Confederate war heroes and 18th-19th political figures who supported slavery. As a result, Dalhousie has managed to make the American case of The Great Stupid look relatively mild in comparison to our northern neighbors. I’m feeling better already!
The Dalhousie Dean of Medicine David Anderson—I will soon be removing my middle name from my official documents so it doesn’t remind me of this idiot— ordered the removal of the portraits of former deans because they were, not Confederates, not slave-holders, not racists, but old white men. Can’t have that! Ick.
I’m going to post the entirety of his mind-blowing message from last month in all its woke awfulness, because attention should be paid. Here you go, and hold on to your head…
From: Dr. David Anderson, Dean, Faculty of Medicine
In the Faculty of Medicine here at Dalhousie, it is our commitment to provide working and learning environments that are grounded in respect for the rights and traditions of all.
When we released our strategic plan, Realizing Our Ambition, in 2023, we announced a new stream of work called Valuing People. This area focuses on our belief that people and culture can set us apart, and if we start with a “people first” approach, anything is possible. To do this, we must focus on creating positive, safe, and inclusive environments for people to thrive.
In recent years, the Faculty of Medicine has seen tremendous growth in attracting individuals from underrepresented communities to our education programs, including Black and Indigenous students. These students bring with them lived experiences and insights that will one day make them excellent physicians and scientists, and in turn, we are learning how we as an institution can examine and redefine our interactions with historically marginalized communities.
We have heard from students, faculty, and staff that they do not always feel welcome in our Tupper Building foyer, which is a key space for our campus. While the portraits of previous deans and other historic figures found there represented our history, they also represent that, like many other institutions of our region, our Faculty has been dominated by senior male white leaders. This group does not represent our current student body and the diversity of communities our Faculty has a responsibility to serve.
After much thought and consultation, we have decided to change the decorum in our Tupper Building foyer space. As a first step we have taken down the portraits of our former deans and other medical school figures from the space. We will be honouring their contributions by developing a virtual tribute to our former deans which will be placed on our website at a future date.
We are looking at ways to make the foyer of the Tupper Building a more welcoming and inclusive space for all students, staff, and faculty in addition to the diverse communities in our region and we look forward to sharing more about these plans in the coming months.
Kindest regards,
Dr. David Anderson,Dean, Faculty of Medicine
Short version: “The medical school will no longer exhibit portraits of former deans because they were white, male, and old. We’re all anti-white, anti-male bigots here, or pretend to be to make our students comfortable.”
What kind of insidious brain-eating worm had to have invaded the skull of a once functioning human being to prevent someone issuing this racist (and sexist, and ageist) garbage not to read it, think about it, and exclaim, “What the hell did I just write? This is insane!”
Insane, offensive, indefensible, and, of course, unethical. Knowing that people a different skin shade, age and sex than they are once led an institution makes medical students feel unsafe? They are mentally ill, and until they are cured, I don’t want them to be my doctor because I don’t trust crazy people. Nor do I believe that “lived experiences and insights” that created this crippling affliction can possibly make such damaged souls excellent physicians and scientists.
I guess it might make them compliant Canadians.
I must make one final observation. People like the Dean and the students he is protecting from a past they can’t handle because it’s just too, too traumatic—how will they deal with a ruptured spleen?—are exactly the kinds of brainwashed victims who will be voting for Kamala Harris. And I’m pretty sure she would say that Dean Anderson is doing the right thing.
_______________
Pointer: Res Ipsa Loquitur
Ethics Alarms 
They must have hired this guy from some outfit that’s been producing and directing television commercials. He’ll probably install portraits of random BIPOC, Asian and Pacific Islander young people. Maybe even dressed in white jackets and sporting those round mirrors on their heads and stethoscopes around their necks. You know, dressed up like they’re playing Marcus Welby.
”This group does not represent our current student body and the diversity of communities our Faculty has a responsibility to serve.”
This is idiotic.
I have walked through my high school; I walked through my law school. When I entered college, I signed my name into the book that was much the same as the one that Francis Scott Key signed when he walked the same grounds that I would.
I have visited dozens of courthouses in the State that Mondale win and Cheesehead-land. They often have portraits of the judges who gave presided there, along with historical photos from the County
in law school, we studied the case of the thorns from 1466 England and the Statute of Uses from 1536, a statute that, in essence, gave rise to any type of “trust” you see today.
when I was admitted to the bar of the State that Mondale won, we were given a recently published coffee table book (maybe not a true coffee table book, but it looked like one) that outlined the history of the legal profession in the State of Walz (I have to consider updating my cultural references).
there is a reason that medical students are introduced to the Hippocratic Oath and it is NOT because Hippocrates is representative of the medical profession today.
granted, some of it is a reminder of first principles (“do no harm”), but I believe an important component is to remind people that they are part of a long tradition they are expected to uphold.
Those black medical students are carrying on the same profession of their old white male predecessors.
their predecessors are perfect representatives of the current students. They are all part of the profession that is greater than any of its parts
is this simple ignorance or is it willful ignorance designed to eliminate historical tradition a la the French Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, or the Bolshevik Revolution?
-Jut
Damn!
my point in the early part of my comment was that my high school had class photos going back more than 100 years.
the law school had portraits of prior deans.
the message is conveyed that you are not the first person to walk this path.
I blame my phone for my poorly executed comment.
-Jut
Great comment, Jut. Exactly. Those portraits are of people who made themselves, one way or another, something larger than they were starting out, to the benefit of the institution. These days, aspiration is verboten. The students are in school to enlighten their teachers by virtue of their, the students’, “lived experience.” I’m surprised the faculty are not required to pay the students to attend classes given all the wisdom the students bring to the classroom.
The martial art I practice was invented in Korea. Should I feel unsafe in a dojang that has pictures of major figures in hapkido history? Should I feel that they would not want me to benefit from the skills they developed? Should I feel that I don’t belong? Is it not a welcoming environment?
I’ve said it here before: if a person attends an institution to which some racist once contributed, that’s a sign of triumph. That means that despite the racist’s intentions, their contribution is now benefiting someone of a different ethnicity. It’s a sign that racism has lost the power to choose who is allowed to access humanity’s knowledge. The next step is teaching people how to admire a person’s scientific skills without feeling that it means endorsing their ideology. This really should not be difficult.
Some random observations on Dalhousie Medical School and its dean David Anderson MD.
This post explains how Justin Trudeau got elected.
A quick internet check about Dalhousie Medical School and its Dean shows the following: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/dalhousie-university
Anderson is 70 plus or minus a few years. He is officially an old white guy. The trustees should immediately fire his ass. Who the hell does he think he is?
According to Times Higher Education, Dalhousie Medical School is ranked 12th of 24 Canadian medical schools and is in the 201-250 bracket worldwide. Anderson graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1983, enough said.
Times Higher Education in addition to ranking schools academically, it ranks their performance in meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I am proud to report that although Dalhousie does not necessarily excel academically, they are crushing the competition in their SDGs performance. Overall, they rank 65th out of 2152 universities evaluated.
I find it hard to comprehend how much of society the progressive movement has destroyed. Every time you turn around some new level of insanity is revealed. It is like the old joke “We need to stop exclaiming how stupid can ____ get. They are taking it as a challenge.”
First step to ushering in a brave new world is destroying the current one.
Thanks, Tom. Why do we have to come to the comments in EA to get this quality of reportage?