Heightened commercialism on campus is pulling universities and their faculties away from higher education's core commitment to academic research, teaching, and the production of reliable public knowledge. Nearly a century ago, similar threats led to the birth of a new faculty organization--the American Association of University Professors…

New rules are coming for sanitizing conflicts of interest in research financed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), dispenser of the government's biggest budget for civilian science, some $31 billion this year. The conflicted need not fear. The draft rules, soon to be made final, continue the NIH's longtime practice of trust but don't…

Refereed journals in science and medicine are the gatekeepers and repositories of knowledge in their respective fields. Research reported in peer-reviewed journals builds professional careers, determines which drugs and medical devices are licensed, influences what medical treatments become standards of care, and establishes the veracity of…

An interview with the former editor of "The New England Journal of Medicine" examines the impact on medical education of corporatization of the health-care system, including pressures to see more patients, less time spent with each patient, financial pressures limiting medical research, issues related to tenure, and concerns that young doctors are…

A case study detailing efforts by University of Minnesota administrators to "re-engineer" the medical school by selling the teaching hospital without faculty consultation and nearly eliminating tenure notes that the medical school now faces an uncertain future and has experienced a precipitous decline in federal research support. (DB)