Controversy at MUN Summer 2020 to Current

[GH0ST]

https://trklou.medium.com/dear-zachary-kuehner-if-youre-not-a-white-supremacist-you-sure-fooled-us-e68bc92db1d5

According to his Statement of Claim against the CBC and journalist Ryan Cooke, Zach’s woes began on June 2, 2020, when he posted a series of inflammatory messages downplaying the legitimacy of the Black Lives Matter movement and concerns about systemic racism that was driving it, calling them “pity propaganda” and asserting that it’s based on a “false premise.” This was presumably done under the pretense of not being ‘sheeple’ or maybe to ‘own the libs’ or some similarly faux-enlightened shit. Though Zach was inflammatory, dismissive and degrading, he claims that readers “misunderstood and misconstrued the nature of [his] comments.”

https://trklou.medium.com/memorial-university-medicine-throws-students-under-the-bus-for-complaining-against-kuehner-1ceea1d29637

Seven medical students who complained against Zachary Kuehner and made a “call to action for [the Undergraduate Medical Education and Postgraduate Medical Education offices] to address [his] abhorrent behaviour” are now being threatened with sanctions from Memorial University’s medical school up to and including expulsion.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/05/04/students-and-the-public-suffer-when-universities-fail-to-be-transparent.html

It started last summer when a group of medical students came forward with concerns about a second-year medical resident in a letter to the dean of the university’s Faculty of Medicine.

The students alleged that the resident had posted racist and Islamophobic comments on social media and had written about Indigenous peoples and the Black Lives Matter movement in disparaging ways. The resident not only denied the accusations, but also sued the CBC and its journalist for reporting on the allegations (in his statement of claim, the resident admitted to referring to himself as an “Islamophobe” publicly yet said it was meant to be “tongue-in-cheek”).

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As physicians we are meant to be pillars of the community to try and serve... it's unfortunate that this level of systemic racism continues to exist. What is even more disturbing is the ease with which whistleblowers are thrown under the bus. We should do better... 

For those who are interested in the petition re: the investigation and to support the students who spoke out  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclT7UCDpXoJ0s66bzz28-1ux7mqeuEw8JG50qfQnJxGGEi7w/viewform

https://dochub.com/tarekl/6mO8oy7Kp89OY6JKqg5p9J/open-letter-to-dean-dr-margaret-steele - letter to Dr. Margaret Steele, Dean of MUN

 

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts

- G 

[zoxy]

My goodness, this guy is an absolute buffoon. Imagine getting worked up about Muslims in Newfoundland. The province is 0.2 percent Muslim and 2.3 percent visible minority overall. I'd be more worried about stray icebergs than Muslims there.

On another note, what do you folks think will happen to him? He's currently suspended from his residency program. Will they let him finish his residency or start his "deferred" EM fellowship? Will he be able to get a license in another province? Can the provincial licensing body indefinitely suspend someone for a social media post? Will be quite interesting to see how this story develops. Does anyone know of similar cases that could serve as precedent?

[coffeecake]

He is getting what he deserves. Doesn't make things any better that instead of owning up to how outrageous it is to justify being a self-proclaimed "Islamophobe," he is trying to sue CBC and the journalist that reported on his story - https://www.saltwire.com/newfoundland-labrador/news/local/cbc-reporter-seeking-clarification-in-defamation-lawsuit-570398/#Echobox=1617184100

I would like him to not be licensed as any type of physician, in any province. I think this case is sufficiently high-profile that if he were to be re-instated, more eloquent and influential letters calling for his dismissal would follow. I feel for any minority patient who has ever interacted with this man. If he were to be licensed anywhere except the Maritimes, he will encounter more diversity and people different from himself - how will he ever handle that? Write "racist" in his bio and then justify it as contextual or satire? 

An embarrassment to MUN to be affiliated with him in any way.