As a matter of fact, it isn’t true that private universities like Johns Hopkins have had a policy to allow people to say whatever they want to say in publications with the universities’ names on them. All universities, public and private, have a responsibility not only to allow students the freedom to say what they want, but also to protect the students from information promoted under the banner of the universities’ names that can harm the students. Freedom of speech, like all other freedoms, has never been absolute and unlimited at universities, public and private.
It isn’t clear to me who at the university caused the student newspaper to withdraw the article at issue, but it is a reasonable decision in light of the fact that the article addressed issues relating to the probability of death for those contracting a very deadly and contagious virus, the article was posted on a website with the University name on it, the article contained the purported results of research that had not been peer reviewed in the usual manner for such research, the article came to conclusions that did not appear to be supported by the information provided in the article, and the article’s conclusions differed significantly from the conclusions reached by other reliable scientific research on the same topic published by others.
All universities, public and private, also have a responsibility to students, alumni, and others with a stake in the universities’ futures to protect the universities’ reputations for scholarly and scientific integrity. It seems reasonable to conclude, given the facts above, that leaving this particular article on the website could harm the University’s reputation significantly.