First Amendment rights are finally making it to Harvard Medical students, whose interactions with the media will no longer have to be cleared by the school's administration. The policy had required that students' contact with the media, even conversations about their own projects and pursuits, be approved by both the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Public Affairs. The policy was enacted in February, but not promulgated until August 25th via an email from Dean for Medical Education Jules L. Dienstag. When investigated by NYT journalist Duff Wilson, officials at Harvard Medical "did not deny that the policy was prompted in part by student remarks earlier this year about the influence of pharmaceutical companies on medical education." The shift in policy appears to be prompted in part by Wilson's investigation.

Other Harvard students have not been restricted like this, but the policy is unsurprising to Harvey Silvergate, co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Silvergate blames the new "corporate" model of university administration, in which fundraising and image branding take priority over students' rights. Silvergate cites the replacement of one of Harvard Law's student-edited publications with a new publication run by the administration that is aimed at fund-raising and development.

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