Prof. Shulamit Reinharz (SOC), Fine Arts undergraduate departmental representatives and students involved in the controversy over the "Save the Rose" buttons at the museum's reopening last week attended a confidential meeting last Thursday, according to Tara Metal '10, a Fine Arts major who works at the Rose Art Museum and was one of the students Reinharz asked to remove her button.Metal, who said her encounter with Reinharz at the Rose made her visibly upset, explained that the meeting was confidential because both parties wanted to create an open forum for discussion without any press.

"We all felt strongly about keeping a safe space, trying to have an actual discussion," she said.

Reinharz and the wife of a trustee whom interviewees have declined to identify asked several students and faculty to remove their "Save the Rose" pins at the Rose reopening Oct. 28. Some students wearing the button claim that Reinharz had been somewhat abrasive in requesting that they remove them.

Reinharz had said in a Nov. 2 interview with the Justice that she did not view her actions as coercive.

Reinharz declined to be interviewed, explaining in an e-mail that both parties had agreed to keep the proceedings of the meeting confidential and that she was going to abide by that stipulation.

Provost Marty Krauss wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that she did not attend the meeting but was aware that it took place. "I was briefed by several people about what transpired at the Rose opening," Krauss wrote. She did not comment further.

Beccah Ulm '11, a Fine Arts UDR who attended the meeting, said that she did not believe the discussions at the meeting provided concrete resolutions for the issues that that occurred at the opening. Ulm said she believed what occurred was essentially a violation of free speech.

"I feel like the intent was positive, but there are still a lot of issues that need to be dealt with," she said.

Ulm added that she hoped more communication would occur, but that nothing definitive was agreed upon at the meeting to ensure that.

Student Union President Andy Hogan '11, who attended the meeting, also declined to discuss what occurred at the meeting due to the confidentiality agreement. Hogan was asked to attend the meeting but would not say who asked him.

"The only thing I feel I can say is that it went well and I hope we can continue to have productive dialogue on contentious issues on this campus," Hogan wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

When asked if students had submitted an official complaint to the University, Metal said that there was a report but it was not from students and that Provost Krauss has been made explicitly aware of these cases. She said she could not elaborate further. Krauss said that she has not received a complaint.

Ulm said she did not know if students had filed a complaint but that there are means by which they could.



-Harry Shipps and Nashrah Rahman contributed reporting.