Three female former students of Valencia College in Florida allege that they were retaliated against when they objected to weekly transvaginal ultrasounds performed by fellow sonography program students.
The students filed a lawsuit against the school last year alleging that they were told to subject themselves to the invasive procedures or “find another school.” They also claimed that the heads of the program threatened to place them on a “blacklist” to prevent them from getting hired at Central Florida hospitals if they refused the procedure.
Here’s what the students claim they were supposed to do almost weekly in order to participate in the class: Disrobe, wrap themselves in a towel, lie on a sonography station and allow fellow students to probe their vaginas with a lubricated transvaginal ultrasound wand. Obviously, male students would not have to go through this.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and other First Amendment supporters have filed amicus curiae on behalf of the students, after a judge ruled against them. The judge ruled that the students’ complaints about the invasive procedures and alleged retaliation was not protected by the First Amendment.
“Plaintiffs allege that they ‘expressed concern to [Program Chair Barbara] Ball’ about undergoing the vaginal probes and that [complainant] Milward ‘complained to [Laboratory Director Linda] Shaheen’ about the probes. This is not protected speech,” the judge ruled.
FIRE, obviously, disagrees.
“[T]he district court’s ruling would allow punishment for any criticism of an institution’s curriculum, no matter how appropriate,” FIRE wrote. “Students being asked to perform surgery on each other with no anesthetic, for example, would be prohibited from complaining.”
FIRE also argued that forcing a student to accept dangerous or immoral program activities or leave school is “wildly inconsistent” with past court cases.
Let’s set aside for a moment the free speech concerns with not being allowed to complain about an invasive activity one finds objectionable. Taking the students at their word — that they would have been forced to endure these procedures almost weekly — is so far out of the realm of appropriateness I can’t even understand how professors thought it would be a good idea.
I have always been of the opinion that sexism or oppression of women is rare in this country, but should be called out when they do occur. And if the suing students are telling the truth, this is absolutely absurd.
Sure, medical students perform exams on each other as practice, but requiring the female students to subject themselves to this procedure and expose their genitals to their classmates is unconscionable. The students said they were initially told the exams were voluntary, but that when they objected they were threatened with lower grades.
One might say that experiencing the procedure first hand would make them better administrators because they will know what kind of pain their patient might endure. This would seem to suggest that men could never properly administer the procedure because they had never experienced it themselves. And it says nothing of the involuntary nature of the activity.
If this really was a requirement for female students in this class, it seems like an actual sexual harassment claim, even though the program directors were women. I just can’t imagine what it was like for these students to be forced to disrobe for classmates and allow them to probe their vaginas.
Yet, when I hear something as absurd as what the students claim, I tend to be skeptical. For their part, Valencia says it ended the practice of voluntary transvaginal ultrasounds between students in 2014, after the students complained.
“I assure you, at Valencia College, demonstrating our respect for and commitment to students is paramount, so last summer when we received a student complaint about participating in voluntary transvaginal ultrasound scans, we suspended the practice and commissioned a review by an independent third-party expert,” wrote Valencia’s Public Relations Director Carol Traynor wrote. “The review verified that Valencia administered the program safely, professionally, and respectfully while maintaining the private and voluntary nature of student participation.”
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
