Meanwhile, other Harvard museums are dealingwith the same policy questions.

"The Peabody is very concerned to follow boththe letter and the spirit of Harvard'spolicy...and the UNESCO accord," says Rubie S.Watson, Howells Director of the Peabody Museum ofArchaeology and Ethnology.

However, she said that "acquisition policiesare always evolving, as does legal and culturalunderstandings of artifact documentation andtransfer."

The Policy in the Future

Harvard's acquisition policy is also changing.

"I know that we will reinvigorate the means bywhich we seek reasonable assurance that we canacquire works of art within the terms of theHarvard guidelines," says Cuno.

"I believe that we are adhering to Harvard'spolicy, although I believe it is also the casethat we have not always done diligence to theextent that we should have," he says.

However, he says that he and Winter "stilldisagree on certain issues"--specifically, "aboutwhether or not an art museum should acquire a workof art without full documentation."

In her complaint, Winter wrote that "ourexhibition policy must be congruent with theMuseums' acquisition policy if we are to maintainthe high ethical standards for which we arebecoming known."

For the most part, archaeologists have strongviews on what HUAM's stance should be.

"The ethical thing to do is not to accept[pieces] if they don't have obviousdocumentation," says Davis.

Steponaitis takes a more moderate view.

"I realize that a lot of times things aren'tblack and white; you have to weigh a lot ofdifferent issues in making an acquisition," hesays