"You've come into here telling us what will be on the site. You haven't come and asked us what we want to be here," she said.

Residents repeatedly used the construction of nearby Peabody Terrace without ample community interaction as an example of insufficient past dialogue between the University and the community.

But Power said last night's meeting will only be the first of many attempts to determine how Harvard can build a museum in the area and still meet the community's needs.

"Harvard would like to build a museum on this land, but we are just beginning to figure out how this can work," Power said.

"There is no question that we have learned a lot at this meeting," she said.