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Updated April 11, 2025, at 7:28 a.m.

Harvard Medical School has tapped a working group on open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas, HMS Dean George Q. Daley ’82 announced Wednesday.

Daley wrote in the statement that the group will aim to consider how the Medical School cultivates dialogues in order to “ensure that our scholars have the freedom to tackle even potentially controversial research topics.”

The working group will be chaired by former HMS Dean and professor Jeffrey S. Flier. Flier also serves as co-president of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard — a group of more than 70 professors aiming to promote viewpoint diversity and discourse on Harvard’s campus.

“As co-president of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, Jeff has correctly pointed out that a lack of attention given to these issues ‘impedes the search for truth,’” Daley wrote. “I couldn’t agree with him more.”

The working group is set to include 14 members — including Flier — who are affiliates of the Medical School and represent five hospitals and health centers associated with HMS. Most members are HMS faculty, but two are administrators who help govern professional conduct at the Medical School.

Daley’s announcement comes after Harvard-wide efforts to bolster free speech in a fraught campus environment. The University formed its own Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group in the spring of last year. In its October report, the group recommended that schools adopt non-attribution policies for classroom remarks and that Harvard review its discrimination, bullying, and harassment policies to allay students’ fears that they could be investigated for in-class comments.

HMS has found itself at the center of controversies over speech on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The school canceled a lecture on wartime healthcare and subsequent panel with patients from Gaza in January following complaints that attendees would not also hear from Israelis — a move that drew swift and public backlash. (The clinic was rescheduled to February and drew hundreds of attendees.) And the Department of Health and Human Services is investigating the school over students’ pro-Palestine messaging at its graduation ceremonies last year.

In April 2024, students at the medical and dental schools alleged censorship by administrators after a sign with pro-Palestine imagery was cut from an annual student-produced music video for new admits.

Flier has been an outspoken voice on University affairs, criticizing Harvard for its handling of antisemitism, its diversity policies, and what he has described as a degradation of free speech on campus.

Flier did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday night.

HMS associate professor Eman S. Ansari, who was selected to the working group by Daley, said she agreed to become a member of the group to ensure every student at HMS feels safe and is in an environment where they can continue to learn — regardless of their background.

“Every student who is scared today is my student, and I don’t care what’s their background,” Ansari said.

“If they are a Jewish student who’s scared from the conversations happening at the Medical School or in the larger community, they are my student, and it’s my responsibility to make them feel safe. If they were a Palestinian student, that’s all the same,” she added.

The committee has yet to meet.

“It is my hope that in being introspective about our own biases, especially on politically polarizing issues, we can foster a culture that encourages freedom of expression while sustaining a respectful environment,” Daley wrote in his Wednesday message.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves.

—Staff writer Akshaya Ravi can be reached at akshaya.ravi@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @akshayaravi22.