Following the CU-MSIH administrative hustle and dangerously immoral maneuvering during and after the Gaza war, yet another scandal rocked the infamous program and furthered its already impressive notoriety. The situation again involved abusive and oppressive behavior of CU-MSIH administration toward its students and the matter came to light with a posting on an internet forum (Student Doctor Network) by one of the students who suffered in the program. It is my understanding that these matters and “school issues” are frequently muffled and suppressed by CU-MSIH administration before they see the light of day. Now and then, however, a CU-MSIH student musters enough courage to shed light on his/her plight under the CU-MSIH regime.
I have by then ended my relationship with CU-MSIH and none of this would have come to my attention (I was quite disgusted when it did) had the neurotic paranoia present in the CU-MSIH program not led some of my former classmates to accuse me of posting the aforementioned story about CU-MSIH oppression of its students on Student Doctor Network. The false accusation catalyzed the publishing of www.medicalschoolcatastrophe.com and led to an interesting flurry of responses from members of the CU-MSIH student body finding its way to me via E-mail and social media. In the following conversation thread between me (AUTHOR OF MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE.COM) and another CU-MSIH student (CU-MSIH STUDENT), the CU-MSIH student provides a uniquely candid glimpse into the complex Faustian nature of a CU-MSIH affiliation. The CU-MSIH student does not mince words and is brutally honest about the plight of students in the CU-MSIH program. For this reason, the name of the student was intentionally anonymized in order to shield him/her from the less than pleasant consequences he/she would suffer at the hands of CU-MSIH administrative apparatus if his/her identity were revealed.
The conversation thread is in the To: “recipient” From: “sender” form and is posted below:
To: AUTHOR OF MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE.COM
From: CU-MSIH STUDENT
Hey, I also heard a lot of the first years (your classmates) blaming
you. However, the post is obviously from someone who is familiar with
the school's issues and most
likely someone in my class. As well, I
think it's stupid for people to complain and blame someone for voicing
their opinion - it's freedom of speech and opinion.
To make you feel
better, most of the MS2's and 3's don't think it's you. Best of luck.
To: CU-MSIH STUDENT
From: AUTHOR OF MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE.COM
Hi, I really have no words with regard to the monkeys who assumed and
slandered. I just wish I did not have to waste my time setting things
straight. However, once the mud is thrown and makes a hit there is no
alternative but to grab some soap and rinse the filth off. Really, this
is the stuff that high school gossip is made of. I am not interested in
who wrote and posted this material but it sure sounds horrific. It
really made me wonder why (if any of it is true) I did not hear a peep
about this during my time in the program. One hell of a brave new world
we live in. Regards.
To: STUDENTS AND OTHERS IN CU-MSIH
From: AUTHOR OF MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE.COM
Dear All,
Recent events associated
with a blog by another CU-MSIH student and the subsequent corrosive
gossip among the CU-MSIH students and perhaps faculty made me acutely
aware of a certain predicament. Having been displaced from Be’er Sheva
during the war, I left an information vacuum in my wake among many
people I came to have close interactions with during my stay in Be’er
Sheva. While I was busy stabilizing my life back in the U.S., this
vacuum was all too easily filled with gossip, intrigue and all sorts of
other “pleasantries”. I sincerely apologize for not informing you all
about my lot earlier but the entire CU-MSIH disaster cast my life into
a tail spin, placed all my energies in damage control mode and only
recently have things started to stabilize with new momentum and
structure. The following page I created describes my experience in
CU-MSIH as I lived it and I hope it is enough to fill the current
information gap: http://www.medicalschoolcatastrophe.com.
To: AUTHOR OF MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE.COM
From: CU-MSIH STUDENT
While I completely disagree with the "rumors" and the "gossip" that
spread around initially after that blogging, as we discussed earlier,
it was only about 2 or 3 people who thought it was you. The rest of us
either didn't care, or brushed it off as stupidity of one of the 3rd
years. And now, the entire school agrees that it was a 3rd year, based
on the specific details written. And I think our apology to you was
clear. However, you clearly did not understand why people were upset at
the original posting. People were upset because we, the peers you
considered friends, have to apply to residency programs and don't
want
residency coordinators reading bad things about the program when they
consider us. We all agree this place is shit, but writing nasty things
on the internet isn't going to harm the admins who have a cozy life
thousands of miles away - it's ONLY going to hurt
your "friends" who
want this school to look as squeaky clean and nice when residency
coordinators look up info about this program. You
have just
done
exactly what people gossiped about you! In fact, you went and made a
website and a novel of it! How can you consider yourself a friend, when
you just threw us under the bus with this article?! Please remove it.
You're a smart guy, so it should be easy for you to see how this
website does more damage to us, your peers, than it does to the admins.
I, personally, knowing how hard you worked and cared
for this place,
cannot believe that you would do this to us. I never believed it was
you who wrote that post, and I never did anything to offend you or harm
you. But you clearly don't have the same respect for me. Once again, I
would really appreciate that you remove this website. If you want to
make a real change to the administration, then go complain to the
Columbia Accreditation Team.
Because what you did only hurts those
people who are already suffering under a dictatorial
administration and
fear of Israel war.
To: CU-MSIH STUDENT
From: AUTHOR OF MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE.COM
I have nothing but love for you. In time you will perhaps see the
value
of someone standing up for personal dignity and basic justice
… The
truth will only redeem the students. Furthermore, it was not I who
"threw the students under the bus" as you so eloquently put it: you are
now familiar with what happened in my case and can easily conclude that
I myself was thrown under the bus.
Thank you for taking the time to
read about what happened in my case. You will be fine babe, no need for
such heated reactions. Best.
Afterthought:
There really is no need to include much of an afterthought following the conversation thread above. It stands on its own in terms of providing crucial insights into the CU-MSIH internal state of affairs and the destinies of CU-MSIH students. Indeed it is quite remarkable and very disconcerting how the Potemkin village hologram the CU-MSIH advertising apparatus projects across its wide spectrum of public relations/advertising gimmicks effectively hides the many inconvenient truths about the crude realities of this program. After all, who would ever suspect that any of the happy shiny faces pictured in the CU-MSIH blogs and public relations stunts would actually feel what the CU-MSIH student quoted above felt.
It is time for Columbia University to quit turning a blind eye to the dreadful happenings in CU-MSIH. With that in mind, a printed copy of this web page as well as a printed copy of the medicalschoolcatastrophe.com website were sent via FedEx to the office of the provost of Columbia University and addressed directly to the provost himself. This essentially is the complaint that the CU-MSIH student quoted above was alluding to when he/she urged me to “complain to the Columbia Accreditation Team” on behalf of “those people who are already suffering under a dictatorial administration and fear of Israel war.” A response from the office of the provost is not expected keeping in mind Columbia University’s past indecent evasions of any responsibility having to do with the CU-MSIH program which it funnels unsuspecting students into.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION CONTACT: MEDICALSCHOOLCATASTROPHE@YAHOO.COM
** All affiliates or representatives of the
Columbia University - Medical School for International Health
administration are asked not
to send
any communiques to the E-mail address above. Should such entities
demand any further information, they are kindly asked
instead to
contact the attorney who currently represents the author in the ongoing
legal process involving Columbia University - Medical School for
International Health. **
