The crumbling(?) of the ivory tower...

On Monday, the NYT published an article exploring side income that physicians and more interestingly Harvard Medical faculty make from drug companies. This comes after a series of articles from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about UW Madison Faculty consulting with and being wined and dined by the big names in drugs. 

Now, states and schools are considering new rules and cracking down on these practices, targeting, among other things, the lack of disclosure and transparency by doctors/faculty. 

Medicine's not the only area this happens. Google has a list of educational resources designed to influence teaching to create more computer scientists. They (and others) pay faculty to intern, offer grants, and more to do research in the fields that benefit the company most. Academic Economists and Political Scientists find seats at the table too...

Does it matter? And if it does, where do we draw the line? What's undue influence and what's effective collaboration that can drive innovation and the next economic boom? What's the dwindling economy do for "academic freedom?"