Newcastle sorry for censuring medical student over ‘short dress’

Newcastle University has apologised to a medical student who complained she had been penalised in a practical assessment for wearing a “short dress”.

In a Twitter thread posted on 9 September, the Russell Group university said it was sorry for “any offence or distress” caused by an incident that began when a participant in a clinical roleplay exercise objected to a student’s outfit, allegedly claiming her “short dress with no leg coverings…looked unprofessional”.

According to the fourth-year medic, who blogs on Instagram and Twitter as The Graduate Medic, the examiner agreed with the role player and issued a “yellow card” – a censure that, in some cases, can lead to a student failing an exam.

When the student complained to the university, it initially rejected her concerns, she claimed.

“Their response was ‘It was the most inappropriate dress they had ever seen’, and then stated that the examiners word is final and the investigation is closed – isn’t discrimination lovely,” she stated.

The “complaint details that I wasn’t wearing leg coverings, and subsequently that they wouldn’t want me to treat their friends or a family member because of it”, she added.

A friend of the complainant later posted a picture of the dress in question – a black knee-length dress – stating that “medical schools are still pushing sexist notions of primness upon its female student cohort, for daring to display their ankles”.

In Newcastle’s statement, the university accepted that its examiner had been wrong to issue the yellow card, which had since been rescinded.

The comment was made by a “roleplay patient as part of an exam” and “all comments made by patients in exams are passed on to students as feedback”, it added.

“We would not want any student to come away from these exams feeling remarks like this in any way reflect the values of the university and the issues will be addressed in future examination briefings,” the university concluded.

However, the statement was criticised as “belittling the situation” by the student complainant, whom Times Higher Education has attempted to contact directly, adding that examiners should be more discerning in the comments they pass on.

“Examiners are there to gatekeep the patients’ concerns so that discriminatory behaviour does not fly,” she said.

The student’s post has attracted support on Twitter, particularly among those in the medical profession.

“My female GP colleagues at work wear similar and no one would think it mattered,” posted one family doctor, who said the incident “suggests a misogyny that is permeating that medical school which concerns me greatly. Do not let this lie.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com