University of California at Davis medical school Professor Michael Wilkes doesn't shy from controversial positions, or criticism of the university where he teaches. That's how free speech rights work.

That's also how academic freedom works, a bedrock principle that criticism and open competition among ideas are the "surest safeguard of truth," in the words of the American Association of Universities in 1953.

But First Amendment and academic freedom principles are under challenge at the UC Davis medical school.

When Wilkes wrote an op-ed column in 2010, he received a document on letterhead from legal counsel saying the university could potentially sue him for defamation for hurting the reputation of the university. The dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine, Claire Pomeroy, had requested that the letter be sent to him.

That is outrageous and calls for action by Chancellor Linda Katehi.

So what drew that overwrought response from the medical school?

Wilkes, a recognized expert on prostate cancer, co-authored an op-ed piece with a USC professor. Published in the San Francisco Chronicle, it said prostate screening not only might do no good, it might actually be harmful -- and lambasted a UC Davis men's health seminar advertising "Prostate Defense Begins at 40."

The authors labeled the seminar an "infomercial endorsement" of prostate screening: "We can't say why UC Davis offers this course that ignores scientific evidence, but we wonder whether it just might have to do with money."

The proper response by supporters of screening would be to write their own columns -- or write a letter rebutting the claims.

An investigation by a committee of the UC Davis Academic Senate found that the medical school's letter on potential legal action -- before any "full and fair assessment" of the facts -- was a "blatant threat" and aimed "to stifle legitimate public debate."

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Our View: UC medical school goes out of bounds