Removing

[difficultturtle]

Thanks for the help

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[Hollow Knight]

The thing is, how would we know this wasn’t just some kind of false defamation attempt by yourself or the account owner?

If this person truly believes the awful things they say on their (alleged) social media, it will catch up to them eventually.

I personally wouldn’t report it. I don’t think people like that should be doctors, don’t get me wrong. But imagine if every premed reported everyone who said something they didn’t like. I personally would have no way to sort through the data and tell which accusations were accurate or not. But maybe other people will think differently, I’m only one person. And I’m not even very experienced at that.

 

[IlDestriero]

Nobody is going to put any value on some random person(s) reporting concerns about a potential applicant, especially if these allegations can’t be unequivocally confirmed. (Think convictions) They also don’t have the time, money or energy to try to follow up on that kind of thing. If the student violates their school’s code of conduct, you could potentially report them there. However you admit that you have no proof and with what is deemed acceptable free speech on university campuses these days, nobody will care there either. And don’t forget people are free to say things you don’t like or believe. You don’t have to like it nor do you have to try to police it. If they are a horrible person that will probably surface eventually.

 

[AJS59]

So a couple of thoughts here (thinking from both sides here as I don't know if there's a "correct answer" here per say):
1. If a person is saying bad things and committing demonstrable harm, in public, and that person wants to be a physician, then said behavior should be reported. I wouldn't say you should send it to adcoms — for reasons above, you may not be believed — but people (including non-med students) can and have been suspended and even expelled in some instances for racism or posts on social of such in the past. Similarly, if this person currently works a job, you could send said evidence to their employer. If this person puts this stuff on their social media profiles then that makes it more obvious. I'm sort of thinking of it here how my med school would police such behavior as part of our expectations of professionalism — it's for similar reasons that we're expected to report any instances of academic misconduct that we're aware of. That being said....
2. For the reasons listed above, if this person actually believes what they're saying, the mask will fall eventually. It may not fall now, it may not even fall in residency apps, but it will fall eventually. The truth of the matter is that no matter what, there will always be terrible people who apply to, get into, and graduate from medical school in any given year.

I'm not quite sure what I would do in your shoes, but unless this person happens to attend your university and/or work at your area of work/volunteer where you volunteer, I'm not sure you have much ground to stand on if this was just in a private chat with no verifiable background. I think I would probably just sit back and not do anything at the moment, and then IF somehow you end up attending the same medical school as this person and said behavior continues, then you have a much stronger ground to stand on.

 

[difficultturtle]

Thanks everyone. I guess we won’t report it, it’s just extremely disappointing this person is likely going to be a physician in the future. I would like to emphasize, this person is not saying things “I don’t like or believe”, they have been openly racist/sexist. But I understand how adcoms would have no way of verifying these claims, I figured that would be the case but I wanted to confirm after several group members have brought up the idea of reporting them. They have both accidentally and purposefully linked their real social media accounts to the “anonymous” account where these statements were posted, but it would be a convoluted explanation at best and again not 100% proof, as you all pointed out.

Very much appreciate the replies to the thread it has given us a much clearer picture of the matter at hand. It was helpful to hear from the other side of things. Likely we will follow AJS59’s advice.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

How would you handle working with or treating people who have viscerally different views than your own?

Many people who earned doctoral degrees believe DEI is hogwash, even if they work with those who are marginalized or under-resourced; you can rummage through the forums here. I don't know how their discussions compare to your peers. Still, we don't ask about your political or religious identity before we decide to dispatch the fire department to save your burning house (credit Tim Walz and a few other clergy I know).

It may be really hard to do nothing, but you will be better off focusing on yourself. I'm sure that person has an answer to "bringing diversity" to the learning community they will join as a medical student, so embrace it. Inclusion and belonging aren't about accepting those whose "diversity" agrees with your own; that's what many young people (and DEI advocates) are learning, especially within the last year or so. Don't let yourself be fully "owned" by others. Karma and justice are long to realize.

 

[LunaOri]

You could report this person to the group moderator, and perhaps they would be removed. Please keep in mind that this could be someone posing as the individual to whom the social media accounts belong. Reporting to medical schools will have no impact, because we don't take seriously random anonymous allegations without evidence (and social media posts are not evidence).