Justice for Virginia Jibowu

In 2001, King's College London introduced a 6 year experimental 'Extended Medical Degree Programme' (EMDP) which targeted London boroughs with a large black ethnic minority population. It was advertised as being designed to bring in more students from ‘socially deprived backgrounds’ who would not have achieved the necessary A level grades to gain a place on the MBBS 5 year medical course.

Although Ms Jibowu did attain the necessary A level grades for a place on the MBBS 5 year medical course, she was segregated onto the EMDP 6 year course which she had not applied for. Unknown to Ms Jibowu at that time, students on the EMDP course were brought in to be used by the university as ‘guinea pigs’ in unethical medical and social research. This included IQ research, psychological research, research by the Institute of Psychiatry, HIV/AIDS research and sociological research. 'Access students' were also used in 'stress' and 'suicide' research in partnership with the Ministry of Defence for which KCL received funding. A high proportion of the targeted students committed suicide.

As the EMDP students were compelled to wear badges stating that they were on the EMDP course, they were treated with contempt and hostility by staff and students on the main course. When Ms Jibowu complained to management about the unfairness and the segregated nature of the programme, she was bullied and victimised by staff involved in the research and implementing the programme. She was also targeted and racially harassed by a group of medical students associated with and related to senior members of KCL management. One of these students was a researcher who was assisting KCL management to gathering data on unsuspecting students who had been targetted for use in the suicide research. This was conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Defence. On one occasion Ms Jibowu was assaulted by another student who happened to be an examiners’ daughter. After making a complaint about the student, the students’ mother examined Ms Jibowu at her final practical OSCE examinations and pretended to fall asleep before failing her. During the written MCQ examination, Ms Jibowu was the only student to have her blank answer paper switched by an invigilator after she had put her name on the sheet. She was not allowed to void the blank sheet taken from her which was later filled in by another person and marked as her work. She was also failed in the written MCQ exam. KCL have refused to disclose her unredacted OSCE marking sheets or the MCQ question and answer papers at court.

After submitting a formal complaint to management and a claim at the Employment Tribunal, Ms Jibowu was forced to return to the university for a resit year. Management refused to allow Ms Jibowu to enter for the resit examinations in November 2008, preventing her from taking up the F1 post she had secured. On 20 October 2008, the first day of her clinical attachment, Ms Jibowu was rammed from behind with a wheelchair in the reception area of the Lonsdale Ward, King’s College Hospital. An orthopedic surgeon diagnosed a haematoma in the calf muscle and traumatic chondromalacia patellae (damage to the soft tissue in the knee). Ms Jibowu is still afflicted and unable to walk properly or run. Her orthopedic surgeon recently confirmed that her injury is unlikely to resolve.

Despite submitting an incident report form at the hospital, a formal complaint to the university and a Data Protection Act request for the CCTV footage of the incident, King’s College destroyed the CCTV camera footage, refused to investigate and denied the incident happened. The Head of the Medical School then expelled Ms Jibowu from the university on the basis that her injury had prevented her from achieving the 75% attendance requirement during the first term.

Even though Ms Jibowu is no longer a student at the university, KCL management are continuing to harass and victimise her and her mother, Ms Anne Giwa-Amu. A senior member of staff at King's College Hospital warned Ms Jibowu and Ms Giwa-Amu that if they persued the matter at court KCL would ensure a Freemason judge decided the case in favour of KCL. KCL have interferred in the court process resulting to a perverse judgement against Ms Jibowu. Ms Jibowu and her mother are now being threatened with bankruptcy as they are being required to pay KCL's legal fees which exceed £500,000. Due to the corrupt court process Ms Jibowu has withdrawn the appeal she had submitted at the Court of Appeal.

None of the black students who started the EMDP course with Virginia in 2002 graduated at the end of the six year programme in 2008. However, following Ms Jibowu's complaints the following year all EMDP final year students were graduated. However, Ms Jibowu has still not been allowed to complete the resit exams or qualify as a doctor.