Harvard Backs Off Media Policy

Harvard Medical School is backing off a new student policy that would have restricted interaction with the news media after students complained it would chill their ability to talk about current issues in medicine. The dean of students said the policy was intended to help students, rather than limit speech or control what they say on controversial topics. But several students said the policy was an attempt to keep them quiet about issues like medical conflicts of interest. "This is one of many ways that medical education implicitly teaches behaviors that differ significantly from the values that we hope physicians will uphold," Nate Favini, a Harvard medical student and chairman of the Student Council Advisory Board, said in an e-mail message Tuesday. "Instead of limiting students, we should encourage bold thinking and allow them to advocate for the reforms that our health care system so badly needs."