Students in Stockton’s Nursing Program received quite a shock when the faculty briefly mentioned the cancellation of the White Coat Ceremony for sophomore Nursing students. Incoming freshmen who were looking forward to this young, yet cherished, tradition were very disappointed and confused with this sudden change. The Argo discovered this change through a student’s Instagram note mentioning the change and reached out for more information.

Many Nursing students and student representatives emailed the faculty asking about the change, since the reasoning for it was not provided in the initial cancellation email. One student had said, “I was extremely excited for this moment and I had shared with my family this excitement for this milestone in my life.”

The faculty responded to every student with a lengthy email describing the history of the ceremony and stated, “[the] White Coat Ceremony is not a Nursing tradition and originated in 1989 because medical students did not know how to dress or behave professionally when entering the clinical environment.” They followed this information with details on the Pinning Ceremony, a historical rite of passage for Nursing, and its meaning. The sender also included the opinion that “if more schools of nursing knew the true history behind the White Coat Ceremony and appreciated the full extent and focus of nursing education as well as their own history behind the Pinning Ceremony, they would be less likely to blindly adopt it.”

The reason behind the cancellation was that it was unanimously voted on by the full-time Nursing faculty “after complaints from students from the previous 3 or 4 years. This ceremony has only been in practice at Stockton for that length of time. Complaints focused on the expense, the time, and the fact that students were not individually recognized.”

However, despite the seemingly short three or four years, students have come to cherish the experience and highly anticipate it. One student from the 2028 cohort, who was one of the many students emailing the Nursing faculty, stated, “The cancelling of the ceremony was very disappointing and the way in which the faculty went about cancelling it was very disrespectful. This is a ceremony that the staff has promised to us multiple times since we joined the program. Our old leadership repeatedly promised this ceremony and told us how much we have to look forward to it.”

They also emphasized, “The new leadership allegedly unanimously voted to take away the ceremony over the summer, and their way of informing us was to add a one-sentence heads-up at the bottom of a mass email sent to the entire program telling us it was cancelled with no explanation.” Many students who emailed received no response, and a parent in the Stockton University Parents’ Facebook Group also made a comment about the situation: “I am very upset about it and so are the kids who are in the Nursing program. Some of the kids tried to send emails to ask why it was cancelled and got really rude responses back.” Other parents expressed similar outrage upon learning this news.

A student from the 2026 cohort treasured the experience at his White Coat Ceremony. “I’m completely shocked that this is the decision that nursing faculty made. Thankfully, I got to have my White Coat Ceremony in my sophomore year […] I thought it was a special time to recognize nursing students. It even gave me the opportunity to have my mom and I in our lab coats. I guess the nursing faculty thought otherwise. [It] created a special memory between my mom and I.”

The majority of Nursing students declined to comment even with the option of anonymity. A student stated, “I think we are scared of possible negative consequences from the faculty because many of the people on the nursing board are our future clinical instructors and teachers, and none of us want to get on their bad side. [There] is also a new chair of our nursing administration that nobody has ever met, so this is our first impression of her and none of us know what to think about it.”

Thankfully, there is a hopeful and positive ending for Nursing students. Dr. Ali Moradi, the new Interim Dean of the School of Health Sciences, is “planning to have the White Coat Ceremony in response to the students’ requests. We want to make sure they are heard by the School of Health Sciences and the Dean’s Office. The Office of the Dean gladly responds to students’ opinions and requests, and we’ll try our best to be responsive to other students. We will continue our commitment to Stockton University for our students’ success and enhancement of our program.”

If you are a Nursing Student interested in participating in this year’s White Coat Ceremony, please contact Peggy Rappoccio (peggy.rappoccio@stockton.edu) by October 31.