From Harry Lewis, Excellence without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education (New York: PublicAffairs-Perseus, 2006) 161-62:
Ch. 7: “Independence, Responsibility, Rape: The End of Moral Development in College”
It is easier to respond to students based on how unhappy they will be, and how far the reports of their unhappiness are likely to spread, than on what they need to learn. … A Crimson editor might be sanctioned less sharply than another student for the same malfeasance because of the power the press can bring against the university administration.
Note the seeming conflict between the editor’s duty to use the power of the press in the best interests of the community and the editor’s own private interest in avoiding punishment by the university.
From Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th ed., 2004:
“Conflict of Interest,” def. 1:
A real or seeming incompatibility between one’s private interests and one’s public … duties.
From Excellence without a Soul, back flap:
Harry R. Lewis … has been on the Harvard faculty for thirty-two years. He was Dean of Harvard College between 1995 and 2003 and chaired the College’s student disciplinary … committee…
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