"It's a Big Club, and You Ain't in It"
March 30 Editor's Note: Our union planned a green-out for Laura Stadum's expected March 16 grand-rounds presentation based on a March 3 email from a faculty member. In the days following the event, we received additional information about the reason for the change in speaker. It is important to Local 328 that our communications are accurate, so we wish to acknowledge that our assertion that the change was made because of our pending action was incorrect. We are leaving the blog post up in the interest of transparency.
Today's weekly Department of Medicine Grand Rounds presentation was supposed to feature Laura Stadum, JD -- mandatory reporter, co-founder of TIME'S UP Healthcare and OHSU's AAEO director and Title IX coordinator -- speaking on mandatory-reporting requirements at OHSU.** The event (presumably meant to be held without irony) was one of the first opportunities for a high-level OHSU leader named in the recent sexual-harassment lawsuit to face the OHSU community.
In solidarity with the plaintiff and to demonstrate our collective outrage at the abuse of power happening within OHSU, Local 328 members attended the event with a plan to “green out” Grand Rounds. The goal of the action was to be visible but not disruptive. Our unit stewards were asked to attend the presentation using the below images as their WebEx background or profile photo. Again, this was to be a silent protest, not any sort of disruption.
OHSU's leadership had other plans, and showed us how they feel about accountability: Laura Stadum’s presentation was canceled. Despite all of OHSU's calls for change, all of its claimed interest in building a new culture and doing what's right, when given a chance to face public scrutiny, what did OHSU do? It protected and shielded one of its own high-level leaders.
As the comedian and social commentator George Carlin once said, "It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.” While OHSU's club remains in place today, it's worth noting its fragility in the face of even the smallest and quietest show of resistance. Keep up the fight!
