Graduate defends LMSS, the ‘best MedSoc in the country’

‘They gave me the five best years of my life, whereas the Guild has only made me angry’


The Tab has recieved a second anonymous email, this time from a LMSS graduate regarding The Guild situation, now known as ‘Medigate’. 

I was a very active member of [LMSS]. I graduated last year after being quite keen on the LMSS following the welcome it gave myself (and all new students) in our first weeks at uni. I [went to] all the charity and academic events I could, and the majority of the social events too, as well as playing for two of their sports teams. I was given an honorary life membership for my contributions to the society.

I think the way that the University and Guild have handled this throughout has been disgraceful. This all stems back to the ‘smoker script fiasco’ last year. When you bear in mind that the script never mentioned rape, was thought up by only two people of over 1000 members, and was vetoed by the society weeks before anything got in the papers, the whole thing was a bit overblown.

Even so, the LMSS engaged with the University and Guild to use the publicity as a catalyst for the further modernisation of the society which was already underway – last year there were new alcohol-free social events, an increase in academic and charity work, the setting up of an equality and diversity sub-society, LGBT speakers at meetings, and a lecture on Transgender issues in medicine, ALL organised by the LMSS. Unfortunately, this was not acknowledged in any meaningful way by those that have tried to ban it. Even the most cursory glance at the archives proves that there have been both female and male Presidents, Treasurers and Secretaries of the LMSS, including officers from all ethnic backgrounds.

The accusations of LMSS non-compliance are also ludicrous. The University/Guild Investigation Panel of 2015 made 13 recommendations to the LMSS, all but two of which were enacted immediately, and there is evidence of this. To then threaten the LMSS Officers with, essentially, ‘give us all the society’s money and cancel your events or we will refer you to Fitness to Practice’ is simply despicable. The Guild are not an organisation that I would want to be holding the purse strings and dictating my social life.

I feel that the whole disagreement completely misrepresented what the LMSS has always been about. Firstly, it’s always been about supporting medical students during their time at University in any way that they might need.

As a shy, homesick fresher, the LMSS was a source of support for me – it helped me to connect with people from all sorts of backgrounds – people of different ages, with a variety of sexualities, ethnicities and interests- in an incredibly welcoming environment that helped me to become much more comfortable with myself and around others. I have no doubt that that has made me a better doctor. I’m still in close contact with my LMSS mentors and the Welfare Representative now, six years later, and you still often see students and doctors coming along to Thursday night meetings for free food, free entertainment and a chat before heading in for night shifts.

Even so, the ‘social’ aspect is only a small part of what the society does, and to say that any medical student is not involved at all with LMSS seems crazy to me. Even those who are anti-LMSS will still have attended dozens of LMSS events during university, and will have reaped the benefits of the society whether they realise it or not. Saying that, obviously not all med students like all of the events.

Since I was a student, attitudes towards the society have changed. The society has diversified hugely in the last two or three years and has expanded to ensure it serves everyone’s needs as much as possible. The world has changed a lot in that time too, and the LMSS has worked hard to keep up with it, while still continuing it’s unique traditions. The much critiqued ‘Smoker Scandal’ and the way it was reported was a shock to everyone, and certainly put off people who weren’t familiar with the society, didn’t know the truth behind the accusations, or were unaware of the context, but now has actually served to galvanise support for the society among students and alumni. Attendance at many events has increased massively since it all kicked off. The attitude of the University towards the LMSS has certainly changed, but I imagine the Guild was delighted at having an opportunity to undermine the society – as it has been trying to do for decades.

I think the organisers did the right thing in regards to the Annual Dinner and Secret Garden party. The LMSS sought advice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which stated that the events were in no way illegal, yet they still made efforts to comply with the Guild by ensuring the events were very, very clearly advertised as being mixed gender. If most of the attendees themselves chose to stick with their own gender for the early part of the night, that’s up to individual choice, and by all accounts great night was had by everyone who attended. I don’t understand why they’re saying people should be forced to socialise with each other if they’d rather be with other friends. If that’s how it works, I’m not looking forward to spending the next 25th of December with the Guild Officers at their traditional Wintermas Day Safe Space Strictly Vegan Brunch. The XX/XY thing was a bit silly though – it’s in the nature of students to poke fun at the establishment, but I would have hoped they could rustle up something more sophisticated than a transparent reference to GCSE biology.

All in all, the LMSS is too well supported, too unique, and just too bloody good to let this be the end of it. It’s the oldest, biggest and best MedSoc in the country and does more for it’s students, and for the wider community, than any other society I’ve heard of. It’s raised £27,000 for Charity since September for Christ’s sake. The LMSS should be the feather in the University’s cap and should be all over the front page of the prospectus, not abolished by the University with the ironic intention of avoiding publicity.

The LMSS gave me the five best years of my life and made me the doctor I am today, whereas all the Guild has ever made me is very, very angry indeed.

To lose the LMSS after 142 years would be a tragedy – and if the support of the last few days us anything to go by, the society has centuries more to come.