University President Jehuda Reinharz said that it's time for Brandeis to "move on" from the debate over the administration's removal of a controversial Palestinian art exhibit last spring.Reinharz's comments came during Thursday's faculty meeting, in response to faculty criticism and a faculty committee's assessment that the administration has generally promoted more open dialogue about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the decision to remove the exhibit was an uncharacteristic error.

Reinharz said faculty members on both sides of the debate have raised "valid issues" regarding the exhibit. But, he added, "I do think we need to move on."

"We all learned a lot from the experience and as a result of these events and the many conversations, including the faculty meeting yesterday, we'll be more prepared to deal with situations that can and will arise in the future," Reinharz elaborated in an e-mail to the Justice Friday.

Reinharz would not respond directly to the committee's assessment of the decision as "uncharacteristic."

The University's removal of "Voices of Palestine," an exhibit of 17 paintings by Palestinian children that were displayed in the Goldfarb Library for only four days of a planned two-week exhibition, was sharply criticized both on campus and in the national press. It also led to a protest May 4 in front of the library. The exhibit was moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where it ran from May 4 to 11.

The paintings, assembled by Lior Halperin, a 27-year-old Israeli undergraduate no longer at the University, included a painting of a map of Israel with a snake wrapped around it and a Star of David formed by a coiled-up snake.

"We felt [the removal] was a departure from the administration's own record of promoting and fostering discussion and dialogue [on] the Middle East and in other matters," said Prof. Paul Jankowski (HIST), the chair of the Exhibitions and Expressions Committee.

Provost Marty Krauss, who impaneled the faculty committee, declined to comment on whether her perspective has changed since reading the report.

"I read the committee's analysis of it and I accept that that's their judgment about it," Krauss said.

Jankowski cited several examples of the administration's efforts to foster healthy discussion, including the University's recent, hotly criticized decisions to hire the Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, who has been accused of having ties to terrorism, as well as the decision to partner with the Palestinian Al-Quds University and to present the playwright Tony Kushner-who has been criticized for his views on Israel-with an honorary degree.

Harry Mairson, chair of the Faculty Senate, who was not a member of the committee, said he spoke only for himself, as he addressed the faculty first Thursday.

Mairson said the administration's "move on" stance is an insufficient response to the controversy, which occurred because the exhibit made Israelis and by extension Jews, "look bad."

"That's why this crisis, at Brandeis, attracted such public notoriety-free speech issues at universities don't make news like this," he said.

Mairson also criticized the committee's recommendation that a faculty grievance committee and faculty advisors assist students in putting up exhibits and addressing their concerns.

"More policy creates bureaucracy and implicit censorship, negating the intent to support free speech," Mairson said.

"The room for students to do even stupid things-and answer for them-needs to exist even at universities which espouse academic excellence, because we all learn from our mistakes," he added.

Prof. Gordon Fellman (SOC), who was also not on the committee, echoed Mairson's position against creating hurdles for students in putting up exhibits.

"Why insert a new level of mistrust between the student and the University?" Fellman asked.

"I think the real issue that was triggered is the way the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is addressed at Brandeis," he said, calling on the faculty to open up the discussion to students on the issues raised by the exhibit.

Naomi Safran-Hon '08, an Israeli student who was in the class for which Halperin brought the exhibit to campus, said their professor, Cynthia Cohen, executive director of coexistence research and international collaborations for the Slifka Program in Intercommunal Coexistence, approved each student's project proposal, so in essence, Halperin worked with a faculty advisor.

"It just sounds like nothing new," Safran-Hon said of the committee's recommendation.

Although Safran-Hon disagreed with the removal, she doesn't think the exhibit should go back up.

"I don't think people here are ready to see these images," she said.

Safran-Hon said it was disappointing not to see the University reach out to Halperin after the exhibit was taken down to discuss it with her.

"[The University] doesn't support you when something goes wrong," she said. "Her voice was not heard."

Prof. Jacob Cohen (AMST), who was not on the committee, said at the faculty meeting that he has "serious reservations" about the committee's report, including that it did not explore the exhibit's connection to the Alrowwad Cultural Center, a Palestinian children's arts organization in the Aida Refugee camp in the West Bank, where Halperin obtained the drawings.

"There was something more to that providence," Cohen said.

In an e-mail to the Justice Friday, Reinharz wrote that he was not aware of the Alrowwad Cultural Center until Cohen spoke about it Thursday. The Director of the Alrowwad Center could not be reached for comment.

Jason Brodsky '07, the Student Union's director of academic affairs, urged members of the faculty and administration to meet with students on any proposed action, as it directly affects "the core principles of student autonomy at this University."

"Student input legitimizes further action on the part of the University," he said.

In a letter to the community in May, Reinharz wrote that the exhibit "lacked sufficient explanation." Though the exhibit included the name and age of each artist, the artist's hobbies and dreams, and the artist's "word to the world."

Other administrators said the decision was based on student reports that the exhibit was "confusing and upsetting," given its placement in the library during finals period.

Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS), who supported removing the "incendiary display," called it an act of "courage."

"Art that we compel our students to view, by placing it in the library and other frequented public areas.must adhere to a much higher standard of community acceptance," Sarna wrote in a letter to the president last May.

Cohen said last week that the committee's report reflects an "incurious and rather one-dimensional treatment" of the exhibit.

"I find it very interesting how little was done by the people who were most fervently attacking the University for taking it down to get it back up, perhaps in another venue last spring or this fall," he said.

An earlier version of this article was first posted on the Justice's Web site Wednesday.