As a medical school which trains women and men who will be entrusted with the lives and well being of others, P&S is aware that it bears a special responsibility to assure that it’s students learn in an environment that fosters mutual respect and the values of professionalism, ethics and humanism in the practice of medicine. An environment conducive to learning requires that faculty, students and administrative and support staff treat each other with civility. The members of the faculty, however, bear special responsibility to assure that students are treated fairly and with respect in all settings where students are educated: the classroom, the laboratory, on patient rounds, at the bedside, in the operating room. Whether they wish to or not, faculty are the individuals on whom students model their own behavior. In addition, they often hold the key to students’ career advancement through their control of student evaluations and references.

Special care must be taken by faculty not to abuse the authority they exercise in the educational setting, to treat all students fairly, and to avoid exploiting or appearing to exploit their students. The quality and worth of a Columbia medical education rests not only in the excellence of the content and the skills that are taught, but in the examples provided of humane and ethical physicians and scientists who respect their colleagues in health care delivery, patients and one another. There is no place in the College of Physicians and Surgeons for incivility, verbal or physical abuse, exploitation or mistreatment of students or one another. Personal humiliation and the use of psychological or physical punishment are unacceptable as teaching methods.

Increasingly, the CUMC community is a diverse body of faculty, students and staff, and it is the expectation of the College that everyone will carry out their responsibilities in a manner that is professional and respectful of this diversity. This expectation extends also to residents, nurses and other health professionals in the medical center who because of their roles in the delivery of health care participate in the process of educating future physicians.

The following are examples of behaviors that P&S considers unacceptable:

• Physical or sexual harassment or abuse
• Discrimination or harassment based on race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability
• Speaking in disparaging ways about an individual including humor that demeans an individual or a group
• Sending students on inappropriate errands
• Loss of personal civility: shouting, displays of temper, publicly or privately abusing, belittling or humiliating a student
• Use of grading or other forms of evaluation in a punitive or retaliatory manner

Students are also expected to be respectful of one another and of the faculty, staff and support staff that they encounter in the classroom and the clinical setting.