Psychiatrist ordered to remove Emory name from his blog

InsideHigherEd.com published a story last week that began this way:

"Emory University has been accused repeatedly over the last year of looking the other way while one of its prominent physicians built extremely close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and -- critics charge -- failed to adequately report those ties as required by university and federal regulations.

But what if you are an Emory professor who happens to differ with the pharmaceutical industry? Then, it appears, Emory watches you closely -- and if you are a blogger, the university can tell you that you must remove the Emory name from your Web site. That's why a recent post on the J. Douglas Bremner's blog Before You Take That Pill is called "I Am Removing the Name of My University From This Blog." Bremner is professor of psychiatry and radiology at Emory and as his blog title suggests (as does his book with the same name), he is an avid critic of the pharmaceutical industry."

On his blog, Bremner has fired a steady stream of posts on the topic. One example:

"Last week's decision by my university to instruct me to remove the name of my university from this blog (which was done by a formal letter hand delivered by a courier) was actually the last in a string of events that to the uncritical eye might be seen as connected. The first was an attempt to block my involvement as an expert on the effects of the acne drug Accutane on depression and suicide, a drug which the manufacturer finally pulled off the market just last week because of its multiple toxicities. The second came in the form of attempting to quash publicity related to my book, an honest appraisal of the true risks and benefits of prescription medications, which, due to their effective anti-PR campaign, most of my colleagues at my university didn't know I had written until just last week."

This is a skirmish worth following. Anytime you can say "double standard," "academic freedom," and "blog censoring" in relation to one story, you have a fight worth following.