"It's quite a valuable educational experience that can complement anything you learn at Harvard," he said.
Lewis agreed student-run businesses weren't necessarily disruptive, noting that in many cases, running a small business was no different than holding a part-time job.
Lewis said that the change in policy was also a reflection of what administrators already took to be a reality: Students have already been running businesses from their dorm rooms in violation of the rules.
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"Learning from some recent alums what they had been doing while they were students made us ask ourselves why we had rules against [student businesses]," Lewis said.