The Yale School of Medicine “welcomes” PepsiCo’s $250,000 fellowship grant to train students in the school’s M.D.-Ph.D. program, School of Medicine Dean Robert Alpern said in an April 8 letter to The Wall Street Journal.

While columnist Eric Felten alleged on April 2 that the donation would taint the School of Medicine’s reputation as a unbiased research institution, Alpern said PepsiCo would have no oversight over how the School of Medicine will use the grant. School of Medicine faculty members, he added, have sole discretion to choose grant fellows.

“There will be no restrictions on publication of any research results — whether or not they are consistent with or contrary to [PepsiCo’s] interests,” he said.

The News first reported on food activists’ concerns about the PepsiCo grant on March 29.

Click here to read Alpern’s full letter.